Taking Chances
by misskikimarie
Summary: "The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help." -Jasmina Siderovski. BeckxOC. Used to be titled "Tweaking Lyrics".
1. The Journal

**_Tweaking Lyrics_**

**_by LunarEclipse22428_**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddnely Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in._

"What time is it?"

Noah looked up from the textbook he had busily buried his nose into and averted his eyes to the digital clock beside him. "Six fifty-three..." he replied, mumbling his answer before readjusting his rectangularly framed glasses and quickly continuing his studying. He didn't even bother to give the slightest glance to the girl sitting across the room from him who raised her eyebrows.

"Okay..." she said quietly in response. Then, she stood up, flattenned down the skirt of her dress, and started walking towards the screen door on the other side of the room. She opened it, neglecting putting on any shoes, and stepped outside, enjoying the feeling of the late summer breeze hitting the skin her strapless, yellow sundress left bare. In a few days, she would have to go back to school again like Noah already had, and this year she would be starting college, so she tried to relish in moments like these to the fullest while she still could.

Her face lit up when she saw a little bundle of energy running towards her, beautiful, dark hair flying behind the little girl approaching. Her tiny body slowed down as she got closer, and she stumbled clumsily when she managed to get a few feet away. She tripped over her own feet but was brushing the dirt off of her knees a second later before hugging the older girl's legs. "Mommy!" she exclaimed, a wide grin gracing her face.

The girl smiled and leaned down to her daughter's level, running a hand through the thick, black hair on top of her little angel's head. She reminded her so much of her father...

"Mommy?"

The question brought the girl out of her thoughts, and she looked down at her daughter once again with a questioning look. "Yes, Aubrey?" she asked.

"Are you okay?" Aubrey questioned, a concerned look flashing in her eyes as she scrunched up her forehead in confusion.

Her mother provided her with a soft smile and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered and stood up, taking Aubrey's tiny hand into her own. "Come on, it's getting late. Lets get inside," she said, and they both began walking back towards the house, their bare feet gently scraping the dew-covered grass.

The girl stepped inside just as Noah called out, "Maddy?" He stuck his pointer finger under the next page of his heavy book and flicked his finger, successfully flipping the page and allowing him to read even more information that he then copied hurriedly into his notebook that was already stuffed with extra loose sleeve paper. He had run out of space for writing on the paper it had had when he had originally purchased it.

Said girl looked up from helping Aubrey clean her dirty feet and responded, "Yeah?" She ran her fingers through her chestnut curls, untangling a knot of messy locks. "What is it?" she asked and picked her daughter up, placing her gently on her hip.

"Did you get me that new notebook I asked you about?" he asked, looking up for once and locking his blue eyes with her green ones. Maddy nodded and walked over to the counter after brushing the dirt off of her own feet. She grabbed a small notebook and handed it to him. He looked down at it and raised his eyebrows, questioning, "Why does it have a _puppy_ on it?"

She glanced at the cover and answered, shrugging a single shoulder, "You said you liked dogs, and I figured since we can't afford one yet, this might be kinda cute."

"Kinda cute," Noah repeated with a bewildered look. "What kind of college guy walks around with a 'cute' notebook? With a puppy on it?" Taking a closer look at the writing on it, he added, "And their name... in _cursive_?"

Maddy sighed; she thought that he would like it, but, just like always, her attempts to please him failed. "Okay," she said, "if you don't like it, then I guess I'll get you another one. But, for now, can you just use it? Until I can get to the store and buy you another one?"

Noah opened his mouth to contradict her, but he shut it a few seconds later, deciding that he didn't want to argue, especially with Aubrey in the room. "Fine," he replied reluctantly and picked up his pen again, opening up the new notebook. Unfortunately, instead of just a blank sheet of paper with blue lines running across the page and a red, vertical line for a margin, he found a drawing that looked like it was made by a young child. "What is_ this_?" he asked, sounding frustrated.

Maddy placed Aubrey down, and the young girl then walked over to Noah. "I made a picture," she told him innocently, "with my crayons." She pointed out the detailed stick figures and explained, "Look, there's us."

There were two taller stick figures on the page, and one was wearing the same yellow sundress that Maddy was wearing and had curly, coppery hair that Aubrey had created by making small, brown circles connected to her round head. The other had even lighter hair and big, blue eyes that looked as if someone had stuck a magnifying glass in his face, even though all he had on was a pair of glasses. Then, holding one of each of the taller figures' hands, was a smaller girl in the center of the page. She had black hair that reached her shoulders, a blue dress with tiny, yellow polka dots that Noah assumed were supposed to resemble the bright camellias decorating Aubrey's dress, and green eyes, though they had a little bit of brown in them like what happened when another color got smudged onto the tip of a crayon. Whether it was intentional or not, it worked out well since Aubrey had hazel eyes that were mostly a forest green color but had tiny, brown flecks in the middle.

Maddy walked over and looked at the drawing, placing a hand over her heart and leaning down to her daughter's level. "Sweetie, it's beautiful," she told her, and Aubrey beamed in pride. Turning to Noah, Maddy asked, "Don't you think it's adorable, Noah?"

Aubrey smiled brightly and bounced lightly on the balls of her feet. "Yeah, do you like it, NoNo?" she asked, addressing him by the nickname she had given him.

Noah cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "Aubrey, can you go for a minute, so I can talk to your mother please?" Aubrey frowned because he didn't answer her question but nodded and left to go play in her room anyway.

Maddy stood up and questioned, "What's wrong?" She regretted it though because a second later, Noah's face had that look where it almost seemed as if his face had aged from frustration, but his nostrils were flaring like their was no tomorrow in anger. It was never a good look, and it always brought out an even uglier side in him.

"I can't believe you!" Noah said, his fists clenching at his sides. "I told you that I needed a new notebook, and you get me this!" he exclaimed, picking up the notebook and throwing it across the room. It hit a vase that had held beautiful, pale purple camassia flowers in it, but both the notebook and the fragile vase were sent to the wooden ground. Glass shattered and the water that had been helping the flowers survive soaked the notebook and Aubrey's picture inside of it.

Maddy gasped in shock, but Noah had more to say. "And Aubrey drew in the freaking thing! How come you never show her any discipline?!" he shouted, taking Maddy's arms into his large hands with an almost painful grip. She bit her lip and tried to back away, but he was a lot stronger than her.

"Stop..." she said quietly, practically pleading with him. He didn't listen until they both jumped back in surprise, having heard the sound of a door opening and closing reverbrating throughout the house.

Aubrey walked into the room, her short legs moving her towards the small table that still had Noah's textbook on it. Her box of crayons were set down on the other side of it, and she quietly picked it up and left, quickly glancing towards the two young adults who had been rendered silent once she became present. She then promptly left, going back into her room. She didn't want to stay for too long, knowing they were fighting.

Maddy and Noah only made eye contact once she was gone. Both had surprised expressions, and neither of them said a word for awhile. Unfortunately, Noah broke the silence after a minute or two. "I'm gonna go back to my dorm," he told her, sighing with frustration under his breath. He got his textbook and then glanced at the notebook that was now drenched in water in the corner of the room. Acting as if it wasn't there, he kissed Maddy on the cheek quickly and grabbed his keys before walking out of the room, into the hallway, and soon he was out of the house, driving off.

Maddy knew he'd be back though, and she wasn't sure whether that was supposed to make her feel better or worse. Instead of dwelling on that though, she walked out of the room as well, heading upstairs and towards Aubrey's room. She decided that she would save cleaning up the glass for later.

She knocked lightly on Aubrey's door, and her daughter's bubbly voice called from the other side of the door, "Come in!" Maddy jiggled the door knob, entered the room, and sat down on the edge of Aubrey's bed. She looked at the drawing Aubrey was making now. It was of a boy and a girl, and the girl had lots of details, but the boy was just a plain stick figure with no physical characteristics that made him appear any different than what any other kid could draw which confused Maddy. Usuaully, Aubrey was so artistic and creative, so it was weird for her to not add in anything that would make it special.

"Hey, Aubrey," Maddy started, staring at the picture intently.

"Yeah?" Aubrey questioned, looking up at her mother from coloring in the big, blue sky in the background. She had been working on it for a few minutes, but she was drawing on a big piece of paper, so she wasn't quite done with it just yet.

"Who's that?" Maddy asked, pointing to the stick figure lacking any detail.

Aubrey looked to where she was pointing, and her green eyes darkened slightly. Instead of answering, she asked, "Who's my daddy, mommy?" In response, Maddy looked up, surprised. "NoNo isn't really him, is he?" she added, frowning slightly. Maddy opened her mouth to reply, but Aubrey then hastily added, "Please don't lie."

Maddy sighed and ran a hand through her curly, chestnut hair. "No," she admitted, "he's not..." She pulled Aubrey's small body into her lap and leaned back on the headboard of her bed. "You're father was a very... _special_ guy," she said. It was a very awkward topic for her because it made her think back to what she left behind...

"Did he not like me?" Aubrey peeped up, breaking Maddy from her thoughts. Maddy blinked, taken by surprise, and looked down into her daughter's big, emerald eyes. They were so innocent and fragile; they always were... _What could make her think _that_?_

She turned Aubrey to face her and put her hands on her small shoulders. "He could never hate you," Maddy told her with absolute solemness. Unfortunately, the back of her head was quietly reasoning that he could never hate her... mostly because he never knew her. It was like she didn't even want to admit what she knew fully well- what everyone else around her knew too. For the most part anyway. "I don't want you to think that he could hate you ever again. Do you understand?" she asked, biting down on her lower lip.

Aubrey nodded, and the corners of her mouth turned upwards ever so slowly as she hugged her mother's waist. "I understand," she said softly. And then she decided to add, "I love you mama."

Maddy smiled and hugged her back, whispering in her ear, "I love you too, Aubrey."

"What was he like?" Aubrey suddenly questioned. She looked up and clarified, "My daddy."

Maddy ran her hands through Aubrey's thick, black hair and said, "Well, he was very handsome." Aubrey giggled, and Maddy started telling her about a guy who was somewhat egotistical but had a heart that even his vanity couldn't stand up to. She also described his long, _fluffy_, blackish-brown hair and captivating brown eyes as well as his award winning smile that could make her melt just by thinking about it. All the while, Aubrey was adding features to her drawing... tweaking it.

* * *

**Author's note: First of all, I recieved this idea from two main sources: the story written _on this website _by abbylicious called _When It Rains._ It's a Pokemon story about two of the main characters who had a child, but the father was completely oblivious because his career was just starting, and the mother didn't want to risk holding him back from his dreams. The other has a similar plot, and it's one of my favorite movies called _The Game Plan_. It's about a man, Joe Kingman, who is the quarterback for the Boston Rebels. A little bit over a month before the champions, he discovers that he has a daughter who was kept from him for over eight years; in fact, he didn't know she existed until after her mother died, and she ran away from her guardian, her aunt, to meet Joe. I recommend both, if you haven't heard of them already. You don't have to like Pokemon _or _football (because, trust me, I definitely do _not _understand sports in the least) to enjoy and understand either.**

**On another note, I really hope you liked this story. This chapters a bit short, but it's mostly just an introduction, so the other chapters will usually be a little longer. I've been working on this story for awhile. The topic just intruiged me, and I'm really trying to plan it out ahead of time so I don't end up with writer's block or something. Trust me, it's going to be good... or at least as good as I can make it. Oh! And also big thanks to Kaurz9802 because she is the absolute nicest person I have ever met, she's an awesome writer, and she was really a big help in creating the idea for this story. So, if you can, please check out her stories. They are also Pokemon fanfiction, but, trust me, they aren't childish in the least. They're really, really great, and she's just one of the greatest authors that I know. Read them!**

**And, finally, if you liked this story, please favorite, follow, leave a review, or, my personal favorite, all of the above! I love getting feedback from readers, so it would really mean a lot to me if you did. Anyway, I hope to see you at my next update!**


	2. Changes

**_Tweaking Lyrics_**

**_By LunarEclipse22428_**

**_Chapter: 2_**

**Forum Replies (*I will try to do this every chapter):**

**Kaurz9802- You. Are. The. Sweetest. Thing. EVER. And you're head on about the characters. Aubrey is very intelligent, creative, and curious, but she is very innocent all the same, and the drawing was like a visual of her questions. :3 And, yes, she calls Noah NoNo XD And you're pretty much one hundred percent right about Noah's character too. He is stressing over college, and he's also frustrating himself with conformity. He gets stressed when he has a chance of standing out, and, since Maddy's usually the reason, he often takes it out on her. He doesn't abuse her or anything, but they definitely fight. Oh yes. Their characters are very _very _different, but they still somehow have a relationship. Not a good one but a relationship all the same. NoNo needs a bit of a reality check. XD Anyways, sorry this reply turned out to be so long... I tend to ramble XD**

**boriforever352- Thank you! :D I'm glad you liked it!**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddnely Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in._

**_*Chapter Quote: "Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody." -Stephen Chbosky_**

* * *

A man raked his hands through his thick, dark hair as he struggled to get words out because of the frantic yelling coming through from the other line. He sighed, having figured she would have this kind of reaction on his first day. "Jade-" he tried to coax his girlfriend, but he wasn't even sure if she heard him considering she simply continued her yelling.

"What if all of the girls try to flirt with you?! _Ugh! _I _knew _I should have applied there!" Jade, his girlfriend, said, and the man wasn't sure if she was still talking to him or if she was more speaking to herself now.

"JADE!" he shouted into his phone, catching her attention finally.

"WHAT, BECK?!" Jade replied frustratedly, and, in response, Beck ran a hand through his long hair once more, stressed out by his girlfriend's sheer jealousy.

He attempted to calm her down by saying, "Don't worry; I won't let any of the girls flirt with me."

"Oh, right!" Jade sneered, sarcasm evident in her voice. "Because you've _never_ let girls flirt with you while you just sit there and don't even mention you have a girlfriend! That _never _happened at Karaoke Dokie! _Or_ Yerba!" she added in an obviously fake, sugary sweet tone.

Beck restrained himself from rolling his eyes; they had had this conversation so many times throughout the years they had been dating, but she never quit getting jealous. He didn't know why, considering it wasn't like he ever cheated on her or anything. Sure, there was the time he kissed Tori, a girl who they went to high school with, in improv class, but he didn't have much of an alternative option, and it _was _just acting. He didn't try to kiss her again until after he and Jade broke up one time, and she had turned him down, so he still hadn't done anything with her.

"I've gotta go, Jade," Beck told her as he pulled his car up to the parking lot of a large college building. "I'll talk to you later."

"No way! I'm not finished talking to y-" she tried to tell him, but he cut her off by hitting the red "End Call" button on the screen of his pearphone. He knew he would have to deal with even more yelling later for hanging up on her, but, for now, he didn't care because he had to get to class.

Beck put his phone in his pocket and placed both hands on the steering wheel situated in front of him as he slowly parked the car after finding a good parking spot. Leaning back in his seat for a minute, he let out a frustrated sigh, his conversation with Jade lingering in his mind. He shook his head, and some of his hair got in his face, but he pushed it away while his other hand pushed on the door to his left which then promptly opened up, letting him easily get out. As he walked toward the school, he glanced at other people who had arrived or, like him, were arriving and tried to familiarize himself with some faces. He wasn't really nervous about starting out, but observing his surroundings seemed like a good idea.

There were some faces that he found extremely interesting, and there were others that he found to be not _as _intriguing. He did notice a girl with long, straight, black hair and a side bang that loomed over one of her eyes, almost concealing it from view, with differently colored signs in her hands that were covered by fingerless gloves that stopped at her wrists. She was a pretty pale girl, and her clothing style was not nearly as dark as Jade's per say, but it was conspicuous that she wasn't some girly girl. She also had on black jeans, a white shirt with a black flower design on the front, a black and blue hoodie, and, the biggest giveaway to her disposition, a big pair of heavy combat boots. Those huge shoes and the way she walked with no palpable thought about how others saw her seemed just like Jade to him. She always tried to act like she didn't care even though he knew better than practically anyone that she was hiding quite a few insecurities through her mean girl facade. She was a bit of a gank, but she wasn't all that bad. She interested him.

He blinked when he noticed the girl staring at him with furrowed eyebrows, but he soon replaced his expression of minor surprise with his signature half smile. He was caught off guard just a little bit though when she smirked and shook her head, letting a little laugh escape her lips. She waved before turning back around and walking to the glass front doors. She stayed there and held it open for a second as Beck caught up.

"Thanks," Beck told her, and she simply shrugged in response.

"No problem," she replied nonchalantly. She put all of her posters into one hand and stuck her hand that then became empty into the pocket of her hoodie as she added, "I'm Ava."

Beck nodded his head in understanding; he thought that the name suited her well. He always saw Ava as a tough girl name ever since he had to read _The Giver_ in the seventh grade, and a girl who had also been named Ava had laughed as the novel progressed, becoming darker and darker. By the time the class had reached the climax, the majority of the grade thought she was truly heartless. In his young mind though, he hadn't realized it completely at the time, but he had found her insanely attractive.

The recollection caused the side of his mouth to inch upwards once again, and Ava looked at him oddly. He realized he hadn't introduced himself and cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly before finally informing her, "I'm Beck."

Ava pursed her lips together and gave a small nod, kind of like how he had when she told him her name. She took her hand out of her pocket again to carry her posters with both hands, and Beck suddenly asked, "What are those for?"

She smiled and showed him the writing and drawings decorating the posters. The different messages ranged from announcements for school council elections to rather bold signs for vegan protests and disrespect between the social groups. On one, there was a picture of a scraggly boy with glasses that had big frames and hair that looked as if it had really bad dandruff in it.

"What's in his hair?" Beck asked.

Ava looked down at the drawing and explained, "He put gel in his hair, and he combed it without waiting for it to dry, so it cracked. See?" She motioned to his backpack where there was a grey comb sticking out along with many other random items such as papers, pencils, and, oddly enough, some video game consels, but the boy's haphazard organizational skills weren't his biggest problem as a big jock pulled him up and off the ground with his hands furiously grasping the collar of the smaller teen's striped polo shirt. The large athlete had a threatening look in his large, almost anime-like eyes, but no bystanders were willing to make the decision to put a stop to the scene. They all simply continued walking through the halls in the background. A few glanced at the conflict, but they didn't seem to be making any movements suggesting that they were daring enough to do anything to help.

"This is really good," Beck commented, finally looking away from the art in front of him and looking into Ava's brown eyes. "You're a really great artist."

She smiled slightly and pushed her bangs out of her face, though they fell right back into the same position, and she told him, "Thanks, but I didn't draw it." She put the poster back with the others and placed them all under her arm as she explained, "My friend, Maddy, did. She's great at drawing, especially anime. That's why the eyes are so big."

This made sense. The large eyes really suited the purpose of the photo because of how much emotion they managed to quite easily reveal, despite the difficulty of catching something like that in a single image.

"Well, if I ever see her, I'll tell her I think she's a really great artist," Beck corrected himself, and Ava smiled and nodded.

"She's a great friend and all, helping me with all of this stuff," Ava told him, motioning to all of her different posters. She had quite a few. "Most people just like to think I'm crazy," she added and shrugged as if the assumption didn't really bother her. As their conversation went on, Beck continuously took note of things that were both similar and different from Jade in his mind. Their clothing styles both seemed incredibly alike, but Jade was a little insecure at times, and that influenced her crass personality while Ava held many strong convictions that she was constantly attempting to make everyone see logic in. She appeared as if she would be very tough and rude, but she was actually very kind to everyone unless she had to be a bit insolent to help prove a point.

When they came across a rather short girl with curly, brown hair talking to a group of cheerleaders uncomfortably, this was clear because Ava ran up quickly, almost dropping a few of her posters, and was by the small brunette's side in seconds, speaking to the group of cheerleaders. Beck blinked, watching the cheerleaders disperse. As they walked away, some of them passed him and tried to flirt with him, but before anything could happen, Ava came back and dragged him off towards the girl as well.

"Sorry about that," she appologized, and Beck was going to respond, but he she was actually talking to the girl. "Are you okay, Maddy?" she questioned, and the girl smiled softly, nodding. Beck took a good look at her, and something seemed off, but he couldn't figure it out.

Then something in his mind clicked, and he asked, "You're Maddy?"

Maddy looked up at him, and, for some reason, her facial expression seemed to get a little bit panicky. Beck wasn't really sure why. "Um... y-yeah," she stuttered. "Wh-who are you?" she questioned nervously.

Ava looked between her and Beck and explained, "This is Beck. I just met him, and showed him our posters."

Maddy seemed to get even more awkward at that response, and, with palpable haste, she said, "O-oh... W-well I have to go, but I'll see you later?" Without waiting for a response, she speedily walked away through the crowd of students starting to form throughout the halls.

"Odd..." Beck muttered and turned to Ava. "Is she always like that?"

Ava shook her head and said, "No... I don't know. Maybe she woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." She shrugged, and they continued walking. Beck had to get his schedule and everything, but Ava seemed to already know her way around wich befuddled him.

"Have you been here before or something?" he wondered aloud, and Ava stared at him for a few seconds before letting out a laugh.

"I'm a sophomore here," she explained, and he blinked. "I came to college a year early," she added, seeing his expression. That made more sense to him. She looked younger than him, yet she already knew everyone there and had a list of issues she had to turn around, so that seemed like a reasonable explanation to him.

"So... what were those girls talking to Maddy about?" he then questioned. As long as she had so much knowledge about the school, he decided that he might as well ask about a few things on his mind, and that had seemed a little bit weird to him. There was something off about Maddy... He just couldn't put his finger on it.

"Probably Aubrey," Ava replied. "She's her daughter." Beck turned to look at her when she said this, questioning if he heard her right. Seeing his look, Ava sighed and explained, "She moved here like five years ago when some idiot got her pregnant," she explained, getting a bit bitter at the end. Beck blinked because that seemed to be the most truly rude thing that she had said the entire time, even when the cheerleaders had been talking to Maddy. Of course, he wasn't offended or anything; after all, it wasn't like she was talking about him or anything, and he was dating Jade, so he could, obviously, deal with bitterness.

"Well," Beck said, trying to recover from his surprise, "if it was five years ago, why do people still talk about it?"

Ava chuckled. "It's all about competition here," she stated. "And it was in high school too," she added. "But now it's way more fierce. We're all performers here, and we all want to make it to the top. So those people who are more popular than others have fun and try to make those supposedly inferior to them lose confidence," she explained. "Unfortuantely, Maddy's one of those people who doesn't have a lot of confidence, and Aubrey strikes a weak point for her. So they use it against her, make her feel bad, and stress her out."

Beck, after a short pause, commented simply, "... Wow."

Ava let out a small laugh, "Yeah. But I don't let them get to me. They're just female dogs." Beck laughed along, and Ava then added, "And I know that their barks are way worse than their bites."

* * *

**So this is the second chapter. Hopefully, it was enjoyable, and I appologize if there are any mistakes, if anything is unclear, or if it just didn't seem eventful enough. It was a bit difficult shifting the point of view from Maddy to Beck so suddenly, but I thought it might make things a little more interesting, and one of my favorite sayings is, "Be obscure clearly." That's what writing is about, isn't it?**

**Oh and, about Ava... Beck sees a lot of Jade in her, but he sees how they're different as well, and they've pretty much become fast friends. But Maddy and Beck... Things are a little awkward between them because Beck thinks something is weird about Maddy, but Maddy _knows _what's wrong with Beck. And, also, Ava and Maddy have been best friends since they met when Maddy moved there. Just to clarify.**

**Anyway, if you did like this, great. I would really appreciate it if you left a review because feedback is always a motivation to continue, and, if you haven't already, it would also be awesome if you favorited or followed this story. You don't have to, but, you know, it would be, uh... supahkewl. XD Sorry, I just love Max Schneider to death. XD But it would be "supahkewl" if you decide to do... any... of those... things... Yeah. X3 But, even if you don't, I still do hope to see you at my next update which will (hopefully) be soon! Bye!**


	3. He's a Closed Door, the Sand I Let Go

**_Tweaking Lyrics_**

**_By LunarEclipse22428_**

**_Chapter: 3_**

**Forum Replies:**

**Jaydess- Um, you're welcome? XD I'm glad that my story inspired you, even if it didn't have anything to do with the idea. Also glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading!**

**Kaurz9802- You don't need to make your reviews any longer than you want XD Short reviews, long reviews- I love them all. And thanks you for the encouragement. Through focusing on his thoughts, I felt like I could put in a little more irony because Maddy's the one who really understands what's going on. With him and Ava together, it's especially fun to write because Ava does know a lot about Maddy, just not the entire story. So until Beck realizes what's going on, they're just gonna be comically naive in their own ways. They're both actually very intelligent people, so it's especially interesting to see how their friendship works out, in my opinion. Filtering Maddy's story into their relationship makes it lovably awkward and confusing for them, mostly Beck who is really just trying to figure everything out. Plus who could forget about Beck's hair? XD It's just so fluffy! :D Love ya, LLT!**

**jadlynn- I'm glad that you've come to enjoy it. I plan on following through with this story and keeping as punctual as possible for reviewers like you! :)**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddnely Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in._

**_*Chapter Quote: "Relationships of all kinds are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold on to some of it, but most will be spilled."_**

* * *

Later, Maddy was just about ready to rip all of her hair out in frustration. She had discovered that, by the time school was over, Beck had been in six out of eight of her classes, and he was sat much to close to her for comfort in all of them. What was worse though was the _effort _he was making to be friendly with her. He would always smile at her during class and try to start up conversations if they saw each other in the halls while Maddy would bite the inside of her cheek and look around for someone she knew, so she could get away from him as soon as possible and use starting talking to them instead as an excuse. Being close to him was not good for her; in fact, it was probably the worst thing possible after everything she had built up to stay away from him over the past few years.

But what was the absolute height of her troubles was how close he and Ava seemed to be getting. Not that she was jealous, but Maddy knew that if Ava and Beck became friends, then it would be even more difficult to avoid him than it already was, especially considering Ava was like her best friend... _And _how much they seemed to have already known about each other when she saw them in the morning did cause her to feel a tiny pang, but she had dismissed it as nothing. She did _not _still love him. Too much had changed for her to still have any feelings for him whatsoever. They were both different people now, and he didn't even seem to remember who she was, so why should she be hung up on him?

Unfortunately, when she went outside of campus to go to her car, she noticed Ava sitting down almost instantaneously, and her stomach sank when she noticed who was sitting next to her. Ava's eyes met hers shortly after as well, and she motioned for Maddy to join them, causing Beck to turn around and provide her with that signature half smile of his. She gulped slightly. What she was feeling in her stomach was not butterflies; it was more like there were hippos running around inside with their chunky legs smashing against the ground violently, but she quickly shook her head, and the feeling became a bit more subtle as she focused herself.

She gave them a small wave but pointed towards the parking lot, and Ava's mouth formed the shape of an "o" as she nodded, causing Maddy relief. She wanted to see how Aubrey was doing as soon as possible since she had had to hire a new babysitter to watch her, and Ava understanding that made things so much easier. She continued walking towards her car, passing a few other students who bumped into her and muttered curse words that led Maddy to metnally wince. She was used to people talking bad about her since she had moved there when she was pregnant, but it still made her feel a bit weird when they addressed her with such harsh words.

She turned her body slightly when she squeezed between two cars at the same time as a rather large guy came trumping through, making space for both him and herself, but he still pushed into her, and she made a small sound of discomfort.

"Out of the way," he spat, and she nodded, quickly walking away or at least trying. She felt a large hand yank on her wrist, closed her eyes, and bit her lip, having a feeling of what was going to happen next. He pinned her to the car she had been squished against and got all up in her face, causing Maddy to crinkle her nose in disgust because, though she had assumed that he was some kind of jock already, the sweaty smell emanating from him confirmed it. Or maybe he just sweat a lot. "You dirty little wh-" he started but was cut off when a frail, pale finger tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see Ava and raised an eyebrow. "What do you want?" he questioned harshly.

Ava seemed unphased by his tone of voice and answered promptly, "I _want _to know what you're doing to my best friend." She glanced at Maddy before averting her eyes to the jock again who was staring at her as if she had three heads or something. How such a small girl could stand up to someone five times her size always seemed to catch those people who didn't know her all too well by complete surprise.

"Ava," Maddy warned, not wanting Ava to end up possibly getting hurt because of her, but something seemed to click in the stinky jock's mind when he heard her.

"Wait, you're Ava?" he questioned, and Ava nodded, looking at him boredly with her arms crossed over her chest. He let out a laugh, and both girls raised their eyebrows. "You're the girl that the coach is always ranting about?" he asked. "I thought it was someone much bigger getting on his nerves so much," he hollered, and Ava sent him a fierce glare.

"It's just rude that he won't let so many people on the football team just because they're a little smaller than any of you big-headed jocks or if they're girls! He should at least give them a chance to prove how well they can play! I mean seriously! _Some people_ are just so _blind_ about how much hurt they cause," she stated but stopped, knowing that she was getting sidetracked. "Just get out of here."

The jock looked at her as if he was amused by her antics. "And if I don't?" he prompted. "What are you gonna do?" he said as if it was the funniest thing ever that Ava was trying to intimidate him.

"Look, you big idiot-" Ava began, getting angrier by the second due to his huge ego, though, this time, someone cut _her_ off. No one had noticed, but someone had come up behind Ava and was sending the jock a cold look.

"Dude," Beck began, "just go." He was not nearly as buff as the other guy, but he wasn't as small as Ava or Maddy, and he was tall enough to actually look him in the eye without having to turn his head up as much as the two girls did. The guy's grip on Maddy's wrist became even harder for a second before he rolled his eyes and let go.

"Whatever," he said, waving his hand dismissively and walking away, bumping into Ava just as he had done with Maddy on his way. Maddy rubbed her wrist for a few seconds before looking up and seeing Beck and Ava's worried faces. They opened their mouths to say something, but Maddy let out an awkward laugh before they were able to say anything.

"Um, I better go and check up on Aubrey..." she said hastily and turned away, speeding up her pace as she all but ran to her car, climbing in quickly and pulling out of the school parking lot as fast as possible so they couldn't catch up with her. She felt bad about running away from them so much and knew that Ava's suspicions must have been growing, but she just could not stand around, so she had to go.

While she drove away, she started thinking about back when she lived in Hollywood and how different things were but tried to push the several recollections out of her mind. It was all in the past. She just kept repeating that to herself until she made it to her house. _It's all in the past. _She murmered it under her breath until she pulled into her garage and finally pulled her keys out of the ignition. She pushed the side door open, but, before even half of her body was outside of the car, the door that connected the garage to the house opened, and Aubrey came running towards her with her usual enthusiasm.

"Mommy, you're back!" she exclaimed excitedly, and Maddy chuckled, picking up her daughter. "I missed you!" she said, wrapping her short arms around Maddy's neck.

"I missed you too," Maddy told her and walked towards the door where Aubrey's babysitter suddenly stood. She, Mrs. Baxter, was a woman in her mid-thirties with brown hair that she had dyed a dirty blonde color and big and kind brown eyes. The most conspicuous part of her though was her dainty hands that she was wringing nervously. Her nails were painted a baby blue color, but it seemed to have chipped off quite a bit, and her nails in general appeared to have been bitten a plethora of times.

"S-sorry, Miss Schneider," Mrs. Baxter apologized frantically. "Sh-she saw your car pull up, a-and I swear I was watching her. She was just too fast for me to catch up with her!" she tried to explain, worry palpable in her facial expression.

Maddy carried Aubrey back inside the house and ushered her away to continue playing, saying that she would be there in a minute. Then she looked up at Mrs Baxter. "It's fine," she told her, to which the fidgety woman standing beside her let out a sigh of relief, and the worry lines appearing on her forehead went away as she tried to relax. "I know how excited she gets. Don't worry about it."

Mrs. Baxter's facial expression brightened, and she stammered, "Th-thank you! I-I mean, just thank you!" Maddy waved a hand dismissively and walked over to the kitchen where Aubrey was coloring in a notebook that Maddy had gotten her after the incident with Noah. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"

Maddy pondered this for a few seconds before shaking her head and telling her, "No, I think we're all good here." She smiled and said, "See you tomorrow."

"Y-yes, tomorrow!" Mrs. Baxter responded, grabbing her purse with one of her shaky hands and adjusting the strap over her shoulder. "Goodbye, Ms. Schneider."

Maddy nodded and leaned down to Aubrey's level, whispering, "Why don't you go and thank Mrs. Baxter for watching you?"

Aubrey grinned and ran over to said skittish woman before she had the chance to leave. She hugged her legs and looked up at the woman with a big, toothy smile, though two of her baby teeth, one in the front and one more off to the left side of her mouth, were gone. "Thank you, Mrs. Backthter!" she shouted happily, showing a bit of a lisp when trying to enunciate her last name since she had a tiny bit of trouble enunciating the "x" sound.

"You're welcome, Aubrey," Mrs. Baxter replied, her chipmunk-like, puffy cheeks flushing a bit in embarrassment. "I'll see you tomorrow too," she added before Aubrey finally let go of her, and she fiddled with the strap of her purse again. Then she walked towards the front door, opened it up, bid Maddy and Aubrey a final goodbye, and left. The last thing that they heard was her car speeding off.

Aubrey went back to her notebook, and Maddy started looking through the cupboards to make some lunch for Aubrey and herself. "Aubrey, what do you feel like eating?" she asked, glancing at her daughter over her shoulder. Aubrey looked up and put on a thinking face, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

All of a sudden, her face lit up, and she exclaimed, "Peanut butter and jelly!" Maddy nodded and got out two plates, four pieces of bread, and a jar of grape jelly, knowing that that was Aubrey's favorite.

While searching for where she put the peanut butter, Maddy questioned, "And to drink?"

"Milk!" was Aubrey's immediate response, and Maddy nodded in understanding. After finding the peanut butter, she got out two jugs of milk, one with regular milk and one with lactose free milk. Seeing this, Aubrey pouted and asked, "Can't I have regular milk too?"

Maddy shook her head and told Aubrey, "You know that you're lactose intolerant, sweeite." Aubrey's frown deepened; she wasn't completely sure what "lactose intolerant" meant, but her mom always said it whenever she wanted to have the same milk as her, yogurt, cheese... The list went on and on. But, instead of arguing, she made a quiet sound of disappointment and got off of her chair, walking into the hall once her feet landed on the ground. When she did, she walked up to the window and noticed an unfamiliar car pulling up.

"Mommy!" she called. "Somebody's here!"

In the other room, Maddy furrowed her eyebrows. Noah usually didn't come home this early, and no one else typically came to the house all that often. Ava used to visit, but she stopped when Noah moved in because they didn't get along, and her brother, Logan, would probably rather slam his head in a car door than come over. She considered the idea of it being her dad as well, but it seemed unlikely since, after glancing at her watch, she reminded herself that he would still be at work. Overall, she was pretty much clueless about who it could be. She was just about to tell Aubrey to come back in when she heard a knock.

Aubrey stood on her tippytoes and stretched her arm, struggling to unlock and open the door but managing all the same. Beck, running a hand through his long, blackish brown hair, entered and looked down at Aubrey with a smile. He somewhat awkwardly searched his brain for her name and, once he remembered, asked, "Hey, you're Aubrey, right?" Aubrey nodded, so he continued, "Can you tell me where your mom is?" Aubrey nodded a bit more enthusiastically and pointed in the direction of the kitchen. In response, Beck smiled and told her, "Thanks."

He walked into the kitchen and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall just as Maddy turned around. "Hey, Aubrey, who was at the door?" she questioned, but her breath caught in her throat when she saw Beck instead of her innocent daughter. "How'd you get here?" she asked, her eyes wide.

Beck shrugged nonchalantly and answered, "Aubrey let me in."

A small growl came from Maddy's throat as she stared him down, surprising the both of them, but she was growing frustrated, and he seemed to almost enjoy making it happen, whether he was completely aware of it or not. "I know that," she stated. "How did you get _here _though? How'd you find our house?"

Before Beck had the chance to answer, the front door opened again, and they both heard Ava shout, "Aubster! I haven't seen you in ages!" Beck jabbed his thumb behind him in the direction of where Aubrey and Ava were hugging, and Maddy sighed. Of _course _Ava would bring him.

"That answer your question?" he asked jokingly, and Maddy glared at him. Seeing this, he put his hands up in defense and apologized, "Sorry." Maddy sighed and finished making her and Aubrey's sandwiches while Beck walked over. "We just wanted to see if you were okay," he said, watching her bring the two plates off the counter and place them on the table on the other side of the room.

"I'm fine," Maddy muttered, and Beck raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm fine!" she told him louder this time, and, in response, his other eyebrow arched as well. She bit her lip and looked down, not wanting to make eye contact with him as she walked back over and grabbed the two glasses of milk. Maddy was suddenly extremely grateful when Aubrey and Ava came into the room as well, stopping things from becoming even weirder and more awkward than they already were.

"Hey, Aubrey?" Beck asked. "Would you mind going for a second?" he questioned, but, unlike Noah, he wasn't faking when he said it so politely and calmly. He wasn't about to blow up on the next person he turned to and restraining himself from making it be her.

Aubrey sighed but nodded and turned around, walking into the hall. "I always miss the interesting stuff!" she exclaimed exaggeratedly. "_Some people_ are just _so bossy_!" she added, and Maddy could just see the childish pout playing on her lips from hearing her shout that. She turned to Ava and raised her eyebrows who just shrugged.

"That kid knows what she's talking about," she said simply, though she grinned a little as well.

Maddy let out a laugh and shook her head, but then she made the mistake of looking at Beck. The light and airy smile was wiped off of her face, and she looked down, biting the inside of her cheek. "So..." she began awkwardly.

Ava looked at Maddy solemnly and told her with some disappointment, "You said that people weren't as harsh about it anymore." She remembered how people had treated Maddy when it was painfully obvious that she was pregnant. One specific incident came to mind, and she winced quietly at the memory. "I thought that people were finally letting it go and moving past it."

"They _are_," Maddy argued. She paused. "That was the first time anyone tried anything like that in awhile..." she finally added, though she felt really awkward talking about it with Beck who was staring at her with furrowed eyebrows across the room.

"People have tried things like that?" He looked at the two girls talking in front of them like they were insane. "Why on earth would anyone try doing that to you?" he asked, looking directly at Maddy. He had no idea why she didn't seem to like him, but he couldn't help but be curious about and, for some reason, a little protective her. He figured maybe it was because he had seen just how innocent her daughter was... _Yeah, that's probably it,_ he thought.

Maddy stared at her hands which were outstretched in front of her. The jock must have had freakishly long nails for a guy because he must have ended up making a small cut by the bottom of her palm. There was a tiny cut there that she hadn't noticed before. "They..." she trailed off but shook her head, causing her curly locks to fall into her face and cover her emerald green eyes from view. "I have to give Aubrey lunch. She hasn't eaten since I left for school this morning," she stated instead and got up, rushing upstairs. She heard steps behind her and found herself glad that, for once, they weren't Beck's right on her trail.

As they reached the top of the stairs and slowed down to simply walking at a regular pace, Ava told her, "I think I know what's going on here..."

Maddy suddenly stopped walking and turned around, looking at her with wide eyes. "You do?" she asked, a look of panick taking over her facial expression.

"Yup," Ava confirmed, nodding her head and brushing her hair out of her face when afew strands fell in front of her eye. She paused before smirking and saying, "You like him!"

Maddy looked at her in a manner that was very much similar to the jock's when she first came up and questioned, "Ava... are you sure you're feeling okay?"

Ava rolled her eyes and said, "Okay, I _know _I'm not usually the romance-y type, but even I can see what's going on!" She poked her in the side and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively as she added, "You _like _him! That's why you're acting so weird and frustrated! It's like one of those, uh... What are they called?"

"Love-hate relationships?" Maddy deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes! Those!" Ava agreed, making such frantic hand movements that Maddy almost let out a laugh at the sight of them. "You like him. You may not realize it, but you like him."

_No, _Maddy thought, _I loved him. But I can't anymore. I didn't hold on. Instead of holding on too tightly or too loosely, I let him go, and he seeped through my fingers- too far lost for me to get him back. _But instead of saying that, she just shook her head, turned around, and fiddled with the door handle to Aubrey's room. Her hands were shaking, and Ava ended up having to open it for her.


	4. Questions and Questionable Answers

**_Tweaking Lyrics_**

**_By LunarEclipse22428_**

**_Chapter: 3_**

**Forum Replies:**

**Kaurz9802- You're just.. you're just the bomb. XD Your reviews are always so sweet and thoughtful. I just love to read them! Beck is really trying to be friendly with Maddy, but, unfortunately, Maddy is trying to stay as far away from him as possible, so she doesn't want him in her classes or smiling at her. She's already let him go, and she doesn't want to take him back or even think that she can because, to her, it's too late. And yes, the jock does need a kick... well... there. XD A lot of people don't like Maddy though. She gets along with some people, but others just won't let go of the fact that she came there when she was pregnant. She's nineteen now and almost twenty while Aubrey's almost five, so it all started when she was only fifteen. She wasn't bound to get a lot of support when she was starting out at a new school in a position like that. That's a good quote though. It describes what she went through a lot. :D The scene where Beck and Ava came to the house was really fun to write because it was just Maddy and Aubrey talking when BOOM! Beck's there! And Ava and Aubrey were talking and hugging, and it was just kind of funny. Besides, there was no way he could be there without Ava, so... it worked! Also, I agree about the outburst. It was just kind of cute, and I had to add it in as soon as I thought about it. Plus it makes Beck like Aubrey even more, and it makes things even more confusing for him! Hehe, I enjoy writing about his dilemma XD And guess what? I LOVE AVA TOO! Most of her character is literally based off of two of my best friends combined. And if I know them, which I do, you're right. Ava would probably do something he wouldn't like if Beck didn't show up. And she does think that Maddy likes Beck because, even though she isn't the classic romance type, it's even obvious to her. XD Update GRANTED! Love ya, LLT! And I sincerely apologize that this turned out so long XD**

**jadlynn- I'm glad you like it. As I said for Kaurz9802, UPDATE GRANTED! I plan on continuing this because I really do have all of these ideas that I can't get out of my head. If I don't publish them soon, I think I'll go insane. XD Thanks for the sweet reviews! :D**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddenly Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in._

**_*Chapter Quote: "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." -Plutarch_**

* * *

While the girls were upstairs getting Aubrey, Beck tapped his fingers on the chair he had sat himself down in. He was sitting backwards, leaning his chest against the back of the chair with his hands crossed over the top while his fingers continued to tap away. He didn't even know what he was tapping to. Perhaps a song, but, if he was, he couldn't recall which one. No lyrics came to mind; it seemed as if all he knew was the beat. As he continued wracking his mind for the origin of the tune stuck in his head, he barely realized that his phone had begun to ring until it had rung the fourth time and was about to send whoever was on the line to voicemail. Quickly, he dug it out of his pocket and picked up. He could nearly guarantee that he knew who was calling without even checking, and, if he was correct, they were probably angry enough at him already.

"Hello?" he asked, trying to sound casual as his eyes wandered throughout the room. He was situated at a rectangular, wooden table in the middle of Maddy's kitchen that could probably seat around six if everyone sitting there clumped tightly together, though he was turned away from it. There were also counters with cooking supplies on top of them and wooden cupboards that probably held even more inside of them as well as black and white marble countertops. Glancing around even more so, he noticed that almost everything was brown and wooden. The cupboards and drawers all matched, but the countertop stood out, and the table was a bit lighter in color than the rest. Besides that, the walls were a nice green that was not too dark or too light (it actually gave the room a feeling of serenity), and a screen door was behind him that led to a big backyard with a porch, a small playground with toys scattered around and a sandbox, and a large, foresty area. He couldn't help but wonder what laid beyond there.

Before his thoughts could get the best of him though, Jade responded, "Hey, Beck." Beck blinked, almost forgetting about his phone once again, and cleared his throat awkwardly, hoping she wouldn't notice how lost he had become. When he listened more closely, he could hear the clear sound of the sharp, metallic edge of her scissors cutting something, though he was not quite sure what, ever so easily. "How was your day?" Judging by the way she swallowed lightly after her question, he knew that she was holding something back.

"Okay," he replied, running a hand through his hair. "I met some nice people... and some... not so nice ones," he added, knowing that she would interrogate him even further if he didn't elaborate. He was referring specifically to the sweaty jock. He could still see his flaring nostrils, the light scruff forming around his chin that matched the brown broom atop his head with thin strands and dirtiness inbetween those neglected pieces like gathered dust, and his eyes. Brown. They reminded him of two stone orbs. No kindness. No warmth. Only cold- deep, deep coldness with occasional mischevious glimmers that were just as dirty as his hair. And it never left when he looked at Maddy or Ava, which made him feel cold down to the core as well.

"_Any girls_?" she sneered, and he was surprised to hear the fierce words catch in her throat slightly. Though he expected her rage and jealousy, he didn't expect that to reveal any signs of insecurity. He knew Jade was insecure, but she usually wasn't like _this. _Her voice never quivered or stuttered. The only way to see her was to look into her eyes, and even then one had to break through the ice to be able to see more than what she tried to make people see.

"Yeah," he answered simply. The way her voice had sounded pushed him to explain further. "I met a few actually. Ava and Maddy," he told her. "They, uh, they're alright. Ava's kinda like you, actually. Just a little less..." he trailed off, unsure what to say. They were so different and so similar at the same time, but somehow all of the differences had suddenly abandoned his mind, and he couldn't think of anything. He couldn't think. After all, with Jade, everything seemed to always be yes or no. Good or bad. And, usually, even if he said yes, it ended up being a bad thing.

"A little less what?" she prompted, a little bit of an edge to her voice. This time he wasn't surprised. That was common in Jade. An edge, a strong emotion, a raging feeling. _A bittersweet conviction. _It was her way of showing that, in her own special way, she cared. She _cared_.

"I don't know how to explain it... She's like you, but she just isn't you," Beck said, hoping that this answer was enough. He couldn't describe how they were different. He seemed to be having a lot of trouble putting his thoughts and feelings into words lately. Like with the tune. And Maddy.

Luckily, Jade didn't seem to question his response any more. He didn't know if it necessarily satisfied her completely, but it must have for the moment. "And that other girl? What was her name? Maggie? Margret?" she questioned, forcing a small, obviously fake laugh. "That's an attractive name," she commented with evident sarcasm, and Beck sighed. She was always so critical. So insolent. And he knew that the only reason she hated that name, along with many others, was because of girls who had flirted with him in the past. She would interrogate him endlessly, he would say that he didn't like the girl, and, after she calmed down, she would just nod for a few seconds, and he would relish in those moments of silence. Then she would start talking again, listing reasons why him not liking the other girl in the situation made sense. It would get to be so cruel of her, but he wouldn't do anything about it. He didn't want to start yet another argument, and, for some reason, he got the feeling that it wasn't her intention to be rude beyond comprehension. She was trying to convince herself.

"Her name's Maddy, not Maggie," he corrected her, sterness popping up in his voice. Again, he had no idea why he was feeling so protective of her. It could have been Aubrey or the way that the jock tried to hurt her, but there was a tiny feeling lingering in his stomach that made him start to believe that maybe, just maybe, there was something more to this emotion building up inside him. He just couldn't describe it, but he was never really the type of person who was that great as expressing himself. When he would act, after all, that was him becoming a different person and showing people how _they _were feeling. And although that came naturally to him, trying to let people know who he himself really was was never truly his thing.

"And do you like her? Or Ava?"

Despite the fact that this had been the question that Jade had been getting at the entire time, and Beck knew it from the very beginning, it still caught him a bit off guard, and he paused for a bit longer than perhaps necessary. _Hopefully Jade didn't notice_, he thought, but he knew that, with her sharp eyes and ears, she most definitely had. She was always so keen and great at noticing even the slightest hesitation in people. That was why most people were so intimidated by her.

Though he had admittedly originally had the tiniest attraction to Ava, he didn't really like her in that way. He thought that she was a great person to be around and talk to, but, unfortunately, the more he did hang out with her, the more that he realized that she was a pretty open book. You couldn't judge her by her cover because she wasn't the frail girl her size showed or the punk that her clothes may lead one to think she was, but, once a person got to know her better, that was about it. She was a good friend, but almost all of her time was centered around trying to make things better and being loud and proud about her opinions. It wasn't a bad thing, but it was quite simple to figure out once the facts were all laid out on the table.

However, he just couldn't figure Maddy out. At first, she seemed nervous around him and stuttered like crazy. Then, when he tried to be friendly, she promptly avoided him. She wasn't rude about it per say, but she still ran off at the sight of him or the sound of his voice as if he was some kind of serial killer, or he was a dirty dog left abandoned on the sidewalk, and she felt bad for him but just didn't like dogs and continued walking. And then when he tried to help _her_, she still didn't stay. She came up with an excuse and was gone in a minute. Still, this intruiged him somehow. Even though she seemed to utterly dislike him for some reason, he couldn't help but find it interesting.

She was like a simple addition problem in the middle of difficult college level math scattered left and right, causing a test taker extreme anxiety until they reached that one question with such an easy answer. They would second guess their self again and again, and somehow the question, one that a kindergardener could answer, seemed so much more complex than it was all those years ago when they first learned how to answer it. And, though he didn't like math, whenever Beck came across a problem or a stubborn bump in the road that just wouldn't let him move past it, he was determined to solve it, so he was going to sort through things and figure out why he didn't know who Maddy was and yet felt like he had known her for years and years.

"I barely know her," Beck replied finally. "She's a total mystery to me." He couldn't say much about something or someone he didn't understand. It was much too soon for him to be giving his opinion.

"So that's a no?" Jade asked. She always was the type who needed straight answers straight away.

"No," Beck said, shaking his head. He felt himself swallow a bit when the word formed in his throat, but he let it out anyway. He let it out and into the air for everyone and anyone to possibly hear. Fortunately, he was alone. He could vaguely hear the girls still talking to Aubrey upstairs through the thin walls, but no one could hear Jade besides himself. No one could possibly know what he was talking about or what he meant. Not even he felt like he could answer those questions.

"You do like her?" Jade questioned, anger rising in her voice, and Beck restrained himself from bringing the palm of his hand onto his forehead in exasperation.

"_No_," he informed her emphatically. "I don't like her, Jade. Don't worry."

"Who's Jade?"

When Beck heard that, he stiffened a bit because it was the sound of a completely unfamiliar voice. Awkwardly, he told Jade, "I'm gonna have to call you back later..." After that, he hung up, put his phone away, and turned around to face some other guy who he didn't know. His light brown hair fell in front of his eyes, but he shook it out of the way so as not to have his sight obscured. The movement revealed his cold blue eyes that were staring at Beck hard as if he was daring him to get out and get out fast. "Do... Do I know you?" Beck questioned, looking at the man confusedly.

"I live here," the other man stated simply. "Who's Jade? Why are you here?" The fierceness in his voice made Beck feel like he was being interrogated.

"Jade's my girlfriend," Beck replied before adding, "not that you need to know." The other guy rolled his eyes, and Beck continued, "And I'm here because I have a friend that lives here." Sure, it was stretching the truth a bit. He was pretty sure that Maddy didn't want to be his friend or anything in the least, but it seemed to make the guy a little calmer. It was only a little bit, but he seemed really stresed out the way his fists seemed to clench and unclench around whatever he was holding in his hands every few seconds. Or at least he assumed that there was something in his palms, and those sounds weren't of his knuckles cracking.

"Are you... Are you Aubrey's dad?" Beck asked after a moment of the slightest hesitation. Even though he wasn't typically the timid type, this was a bit of an awkward situation, and it was the only thing that he could think of to talk about. He said that he lived with Maddy, so it would make sense, but Aubrey looked nothing like him... Still, the bitterness Ava had used when referring to Aubrey's father seemed to fit this man since he was so irritable.

The man seemed a bit surprised by the question. "No," he told him, shaking his head. His hair got in his face again, and he sighed frustratedly as he used his hands to brush it out of the way. There was nothing in his hands. "I'm not Aubrey's father. She doesn't have one."

Beck furrowed his eyebrows, confused by this. "What do you mean? Is he..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish his sentence.

"No, he's not dead," the man snapped. "Or maybe he is. Either way, he deserves to be. Aubrey needs discipline, but she'll never get it because of that guy's sorry-" he began, and there was an actual emotion he had mustered coming into his voice besides anger directed at Beck. It was still anger and possibly a bit of sadness, but he didn't know who it was for. It seemed to be more than just Aubrey's father, but Beck couldn't be sure.

"Noah? What are you talking about?" a voice asked as three girls came down the stairs. Maddy, Ava, and Aubrey. "When did you get home?" Maddy questioned while Aubrey and Ava seemed to hang back a little. Neither of them really wanted to talk to him, so they let Maddy.

"A little while ago," Noah stated with a shrug. "I've just been talking to... what's your name?" He looked at Beck. All of the tensity in his soldiers seemed to have left, despite all of the remorse he had seemed to be ready to let out a minute ago, but he still seemed to breathe out a little bit heavily threw his nose in a manner that showed that he really wasn't completely calm, and Beck wondered if he ever was.

"That's Beck," Ava responded in a quiet, bitter tone with her arms crossed over her chest. Her head seemed to be retracted away from Noah as she looked at him with disgust. "Come on, Aubster. You wanna eat outside?" she said, looking down at the little four year old girl standing beside her. Aubrey nodded enthusiastically, and Ava grabbed her sandwich and opened the screen door while Aubrey grabbed the milk, and they both headed outside.

Noah watched them as they went, eyeing Aubrey in a seemingly curious way. He then turned around, looking back and forth Between Beck and Maddy a few times. He made a brief nod and headed upstairs, Beck looking at him confusedly while Maddy went outside with Ava and Aubrey, holding her own sandwich in shaky hands. Beck swore he saw something on her back though when her hair bounced a bit as she walked. Then it was back in place, and he could no longer find it. Part of him started to wonder if it was even ever there.

* * *

The next day, Maddy was sitting in front of the campus when Beck walked up to her, and she looked up from the book she was reading. "Do you know where Ava is?" he asked, craning his neck in all different directions. After hearing this question, Maddy sighed and looked down at her book again, dismissively flipping the page as it made a sound like the beating wings of a bird flying away, and Beck imagined that she would too if she had the chance to fly away from him, leaving a trail of light feathers and disdain behind her.

"She's talking to the principle," Maddy said, shrugging a single, tiny shoulder. "You know how she is," she added with the slightest edge, and Beck wasn't quite sure why she said that so bitterly of all things.

Sitting down across from her, he mumbled, "Okay..." They both had a free period, and Maddy would have preferred to leave and see Aubrey, but Noah had taken her car earlier that morning because his was getting fixed, so she couldn't. In comparison, Beck just wanted to hang out with her. He had a few questions that he wasn't sure if he was going to ask, but he did need answers. That was for sure, so he decided to go ahead and ask now. If she ran away from him, then he would save them for later.

"Who's Aubrey's dad?" he questioned so quietly that Maddy almost missed it, but she didn't, and she looked up in surprise. He found it a bit awkward to ask, but he was curious, and he now knew that it wasn't Noah, even though Ava seemed to dislike him just as much.

Maddy's mouth opened and closed a few times as she stammered for an answer before she looked down again and mumbled, "She doesn't have one."

"Is he gone?" Beck prompted. He felt like he suddenly had to know what was the story behind Aubrey, and she would know better than Noah. Better than anyone. Who was she? Who was her dad? Where did he go?

Looking into his eyes for once, Maddy said simply, "You tell me." This confused Beck, but he shook it off, all the while wishing that she could just provide him with a straight answer. There was a reason that he found Ava easier to talk to: she always spoke her mind. Maddy, however, left you hanging with even more questions circling in your mind than before you first questioned her.

He stayed silent for a little while after that, his mind swirling with a tornado full of things he was wondering about. He also watched Maddy's movements. Though a little awkward, she didn't seem too hesitant as her eyes continued scanning over her book. He felt like glancing over her shoulder to see what exactly she was reading, but he didn't. He didn't want to invade her personal space, even though he had a feeling that he already had treded onto territory that she had marked out of bounds, and he wanted to keep going. Explore what she was hiding.

It was kind of like when he would act. He would figure out as much as he could about the character he would be portraying and find both their strengths and weaknesses as well as their entire personality and history. Sometimes, the history wasn't exactly necessary, but he just couldn't figure her out without it. He had to know what she had gone through because he had tried everything else, and, so far, he had nothing.

"Were you raped?" This time, the question flew out louder and a bit hastily as if he was afraid of the idea that something so terrible could lead to the existence of someone as sweet and innocent as Aubrey. And Maddy denied it just as quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly. "So you don't regret it?"

She made a quiet sound of frustration before letting out a sigh in exasperation. "No," she began, "I don't regret it. The only thing that I do regret is having the tiniest bit of hope that, even if I never saw him again, at least he'd remember me." The last part came out a bit hushed and somberly, and, with that, she picked up her books and binders and left towards the school building just as the bell rang.

Still, Beck sat contently on the grass in front of campus in his spot, their spot, under a shady tree because he knew that, this time around, she had told him what she was feeling, and it was all the truth, even though he still didn't know if he understood. Not only did she actually use an emotion other than irritation, but he had seen the mark on her back again, right on the upper right side before her hair covered it up again. It looked like some sort of writing, something written in black, but he still couldn't read it. All the same, he was satisfied as he finally got up because he was one step closer to understanding her, even if he couldn't read her quite yet.

* * *

**I'm sorry that I haven't updated this in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I had two big tests that I had to cram for, and I've been having some family issues as well. I think everything is alright now though, so I will attempt to keep up with my updates. They'll probably be every one or two weeks from now on, though I may miss a new chapter every once in awhile. Still, I think that that's pretty good for updates, and hopefully you guys agree. Also, I have a question for you this time around. I've been thinking about changing the title, _Tweaking Lyrics_, to _Taking Chances_. While I haven't been updating, I've been thinking about the story a lot, and there have been so many ideas that have come up that I've changed how I think the story will progress just a tiny bit, and I think that the new title idea would fit those ideas better. If you like _Taking Chances_ or you wish for me to keep the title as it is, please tell me in a review and tell me what you think about the chapter as well. Bye!**


	5. Everything is Nothing, Nothing but Lies

**_**Taking Chances_**

**_By LunarEclipse22428_**

**_Chapter: 5_**

**Forum Replies:**

**Kaurz9802- It's fine. You can keep your reviews as short as you like XD I know that college is keeping you busy, and I would still appreciate it just as much if you left a one sentence review. Or even none. Just the fact that you've read it is awesome, LLT! And I love Noah's nickname too. There is a little bit more of him in this chapter, though not much, and it's a bit difficult to understand. I sort of left a bit of a textual gap. XD But he and Beck definitely aren't off to a good start. Beck is confused about him and how he doesn't actually know what happened to Maddy either while Noah is a bit suspicious of him. And Ava... she pretty much hates NoNo's guts. X3 Maddy opening up to Beck was a bit odd to write because I wasn't sure how much to put in or how much to leave out, but I knew that I had to make her say the remembering thing as soon as I thought of it. Unfortunately, he still doesn't realize what is going on, but it'll probably click in his "fluffy mind" eventually XD Thanks for the kind words, as usual!**

**jadlynn- Everything is fine now. Thank you. Things can get a bit on edge, but everything has been running smoothly for awhile, so now I'm back to writing, and, hopefully, I'll be able to stay punctual. And, though this may sound odd, I'm a bit glad that the suspense had such a big affect on you. X3 I guess that that must mean that I'm doing something right, right? And I'm also happy that you loved the chapter! I worked hard on it, and, though this one isn't necessarily as eventful (unless you read it closely), I'm hoping that you'll enjoy this one just as much. As you may be able to see, I changed the title to Taking Chances, but that does not mean that it won't still have to do with music. I can nearly guarantee that there will be at least one song in it, though I'm saving it for a bit later. Still, it won't have to do as much because, honestly, orginally, I was planning on Beck and Maddy having to do a project or something, and that was how they would be forced to interact, but I think that the way that I have been handling things now where they actually want to hang out, or at least with Beck, is working out better. Plus it's more original and better for the romantic aspect, I think. Thanks for the kind review!**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddenly Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in._

**_*Chapter Quote: "When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth." -Khaled Hosseini_**

* * *

"That's really great," Shelby, a girl in Maddy's art class, complimented from her seat, and Maddy looked up at her, surprised. It was not often that she got compliments like that for her work, though she reminded herself that this girl had not gone to school with her before. They knew nothing about one another and had nothing to judge the other about. You couldn't really judge someone after only knowing them for a day. Still, she hadn't been expecting a comment from her. She had seen Shelby as that girl in the classroom who allowed her work to devour her in one gulp and protected it from the eyes of strangers with her guard up in every way possible. Her hands would shield her sketches away from Maddy's view, and her head leaned down as close as possible to obscure the sight of it and focus as well. Even though they sat next to each other, Maddy still had no idea what Shelby had been drawing for the past two days.

She then looked down at her own picture again. Their assignment was to create a contort style drawing of a person, so she had drawn a realistic version of the first person who came to mind: her mother. Her hair, silky and dark as it hung down her back, was the tiniest bit messy with a few thin strands sticking out in different directions but still appeared graceful. It complimented her tanned skin tone that matched Maddy's own. A bit of darkness with some light mixed in against the blackness. That was always how her mother was. A beautiful woman who cared so graciously about her family but failed to keep her relationships with them in tact all the same. She lived back in California where most of the family was also indigenous to. They didn't seem to travel often, and it was like leaving that area was like traveling into uncharted waters for them. They liked to stay grounded and familiar, but it was all lies. It was always nothing but lies.

To figure out the story, while growing up, Maddy had had to slowly piece things together like a puzzle. Her mother was such a kind woman, despite the fact that her husband had left her shortly after giving birth to two children. They just stayed far apart, each taking one in on their own, and everything seemed fine for a long, long time. But, as she became more intelligent, Maddy did begin to notice changes. Several of them, too. Like when her mother told her to lie, lie to her own family.

"We're sorry we couldn't make it to your birthday party. Madelyn was just too sick. You know her. She's got the immune system of a flea; I swear, just like her father. It's a miracle that she's skinny," her mom would say into the phone before passing it over to her while she would have a frown plastered upon her face at the comment. "Grandma wants to see how you're doing. Just start coughing and sneezing or something, okay?" She didn't know why she had to, but she did anyway. Her grandmother would seem skeptical but bought it even with Maddy's adequate at best acting skills. That was how it always went, and she could only question in her mind why because whenever she tried to ask aloud, she would recieve an answer that was somewhere along the lines of, "It's nothing, sweetie. Don't worry about it." Every single time. It was all the same.

They gradually broke away from the family, her mother coming up with a few excuses here and there to get out of little parties and visits. Those few excuses then became plentiful over time, and Maddy never got to see her relatives that she used to be so close with. Her cousins, her aunts, her uncles, her grandparents were all seemingly gone, and her grandmother died soon enough during it all. She had passed away in her sleep when no one could or would disturb her.

They went to the funeral, of course, but her mother made them leave as quickly as possible, and she never did get to wish her grandmother that happy birthday that they had missed.

Her mother's mouth would always twist uncomfortably, and her usually warm, brown eyes would become a color that resembled charcoal when she would make it all happen, which Maddy had started to put into the sketch as well, though she had yet to begin coloring them in, and the orbs, which, out of habit, she had made a bit on the large side, appeared blank. White and big and blank. But they would get the entire mysterious feel once the colored pencils got the chance to work their magic, and they were transformed out of their blank state. One of them did have a slightly thick contort line down the side of it though, and Maddy couldn't help but think that it made her appear as if she was about to start crying. Or maybe she already had. Already was.

She had been drawing her mother's palms when Shelby had spoken to her. Turned upwards in a way that appeared a bit odd but also meaningful to her. Her arms, thin and comforting when she would confront her about the way that things were changing so abruptly for them, seemed a bit strained and weak, her veins on her wrists subtle and small. It was all there. Blue against the fading golden sheen of her skin and leading to the palms which were both empty and a little scraggly. She was still gracious, still beautiful, but she was falling apart ever so slowly, and no one could deny it.

"Thanks," Maddy replied quietly. She didn't really have much more to say in return after all. They weren't friends, and she couldn't compliment her picture if she couldn't see it. She wasn't going to lie again. Although she had outside during her free period with Beck. It wasn't completely untruthful though considering what he was asking about and when. When was crucial. If he had asked her about it just in general, she would have had to change her answer to avoid being exactly what she was afraid of becoming: her mother. Not in the sense of not caring about her family. Her mother was always very involved and protective, but she did begin to push away as her immediate family became her main foucs. She had to think about how to care for the two of them, and the entire family was cut off. They had their own problems, and she didn't want them to have to think about hers. All that she wanted was isolation and seclusion.

Maddy cared about protecting Aubrey, but she didn't want to have to sacrifice the truth to do it. Though she herself had traveled to the seemingly unknown land, she did it to start over fresh and new and to learn about what she had missed out on as well. Leaving Beck behind had been the first step, leaving what she would have lost soon enough and what was already gone. They had known and liked, possibly loved, each other when she lived with her mother, but he was an actor. She was a mom. She had to move on, move away, so that he could continue with his acting with no child involved. It wasn't entirely bad for her either. She had finally traveled and really figured out what her own father was like. She had never really known what with her parents being divorced and all. And Noah became, more or less, a father figure for Aubrey when he had moved in. Only now Maddy knew that Aubrey was aware that he wasn't really her father. She didn't know why she didn't see it coming sooner. Noah wasn't much of a people person, and his coldness would always clash with her daughter's warmth and radiance.

"Who is she?" Shelby questioned. "Did you just make her up?" She wasn't looking at it anymore. Her neck was craning downwards again as she erased something quickly yet carefully. Maddy's eyes followed the little eraser shavings. They were the closest thing she had to seeing what was on that paper. What had they caused to disappear? What did they take away and who?

"No," Maddy answered, shaking her head and finally looking away from Shelby as she refocused herself, clearing her mind. "I didn't. She's my mother."

Shelby, seemingly having gotten over her being so reserved as she was the past day and showing off her curiosity, asked as a follow up question, "Why does she look so weak? Did something happen to her? She's still a very pretty woman and everything, but... why does she look like _that_?"

"She isn't weak," Maddy responded quickly. She didn't want to direspect her mother. Though she had done some things that she knew were wrong, she was still her mother. She was still admirable and had reasons behind everything that she did, whether they were pure or not. Letting out a deep breath, she elaborated, "I mean... isn't there something strong about staying standing even when you're feeling weak?" And she meant it too.

And Shelby seemed to understand as welll. "Yeah," she agreed, "I guess there is." Then she got up, eyeing the boxes of art supplies across the room. "Strong people are the only people worth drawing. Even when they fall, just the fact that they did so much to keep on their feet is a thing in itself." Then she walked away, her picture having been left behind, out in the open for any wandering eyes to look at.

Maddy turned away after she saw who it was. There was something odd about glancing into your own eyes and seeing everything that others saw in you.

**~. ~.~ .~**

"Booli!" Aubrey exclaimed as she ran towards her grandfather excitedly, taking off the straps of her pink backpack and dropping it onto the middle of the floor. Chuckling, 'Booli' enveloped her in a hug while Maddy, also grinning at her daughter's bubbliness, picked up the stray book bag. "Hi, Booli!" she greeted, a bright smile that lit up her entire face present.

"How are you, Munchkin?" he questioned in response, holding her tightly. "Keeping those grades up?" he joked, knowing that she didn't care about that in the least yet and didn't have much to worry about anyway. She was a pretty smart cookie for someone her age, even though she was only starting kindergarden in a few weeks. She was an observant one and an optimist too, as he liked to say, which was a great combination. He then looked up at Maddy when Aubrey let go and questioned, "What about you?"

"I'm keeping my grades up. Thanks for asking," Maddy replied, and he gave her a look. She let out a laugh and hugged him, having known that that was what he wanted all along. "Hey, dad," she said when she suddenly felt her body shift to the side a bit and looked up, seeing that their was an intruder in their hug that had pushed them slightly when they had ran up. She had her arms wrapped around their shoulders, one around Maddy's, and one around Maddy's dad's.

"What?" Ava asked in response to the weird looks that she was getting. "The chauffer isn't welcome in family hugs? Okay, I see how it is," she stated, making her keys make a jingling sound as she held them in her hands and started to pull away, but they pulled her back before each of them let go.

"Hey, Booli?" Aubrey chirped, her backpack slung on a chair and her shoes and socks off as she walked barefoot across the wooden floor. "Is Uncle Slogan here?" she questioned, referring to Logan, Maddy's brother. She had a tendency to nickname people that she saw a lot like how Noah was NoNo. "Booli", in comparison, had recieved his nickname when she was first learning how to speak and could not pronounce his name, Louie. It had stuck with the family as a joke, and she still called him that, even though she could now enunciate his real name better without spluttering or stammering and having it all come out so very wrong like it used to.

Booli nodded, motioning towards the stairs leading to the basement of the house where Logan lived. Though he went to college as well, the same one as Maddy and Ava, in fact, he was in it for different reasons and had not really made a living for himself yet. He didn't even have an apartment or anything, even though he was in his early twenties, and Maddy, who was still only nineteen, had a home for her, Aubrey, and Noah. Instead, he lived in his father's basement and made music mainly to impress girls. Still, Aubrey dashed downstairs because he somehow had some sort of soft spot for her that not even Maddy had ever tapped into. They lived on different sides of the country for most of their lives, after all, but Aubrey was a New York girl, and he was a New York boy. They came from the same world.

"So," Booli stated and cleared his throat after Aubrey was gone and they could hear her yelling out her greetings to Logan all the way from up in the kitchen, "How's college been for you two so far?" His voice seemed a bit scratchy, but they paid it no mind. He really did have the immune system of a flea, and his throat seemed to be a consistent issue particularly, though he had never actually been diagnosed with any problems that would explain it. He was skinny, and he ate well, but he could never shake off the feeling of sickness for long.

Ava looked at Maddy, half of her expecting her to speak up and say something about the jock and half of her _knowing_ that she wouldn't mention it because it was "irrelevant" and "pointless to bring up". Still, she respected that decision and didn't bring up the rude and sweaty fellow either. "It's been pretty good," she uttered out instead, her voice catching in her throat a bit as the jock still circled in her mind as well as the recollections that he brought back. "You know, minus the fact that the principle's as stubborn as ever," she then muttered, and Booli laughed.

"Still up to your same little tricks, I see," he commented, going through a cupboard. He pulled out a small box of prescribed medication and then closed it as he untwisted the top. "Don't worry, Ava. I'm sure they'll see your point eventually," he added encouragingly. Ava had become like a daughter to him as well because he had known her well for years. While Maddy was his actual daughter, and they had become undeniably close, they had only had a relationship like that through the years that Maddy had finally started living closeby. They were still trying to figure out new things about each other, but Booli and Ava didn't really have any questions for each other. He'd met her through Logan and always saw her as a sweet girl... even though most parents disagreed with him because of her rebellious style of clothing. Some people would judge her based on only that before they were even introduced to her constant attempts at persuasion to make things different.

"I don't judge people on their appearances," he would say, but everyone did at some point. He just always got a good vibe from Ava. Stubborn yet respectful- a good combination. He had many combinations that he favored. However, music and art weren't one of them.

"You really think it's good?" Aubrey asked, crinkling her nose as she and Logan walked up the stairs. "NoNo didn't like it... He just told me to leave," she said, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. Maddy looked over and saw her showing Logan the picture from a few days ago. "I think that he thinks I'm stupid, and that's just mean and stupid because I don't know what I ever did that was stupid. Maybe he's stupid."

"He is," Logan told her, nodding his head and causing Maddy's jaw to drop a bit. She wasn't going to deny that Noah got on her nerves sometimes, but she was still dating him and didn't want to hear them talking bad about him. That was why she stopped ever mentioning him to Ava. She didn't like hearing the negative comments because it just reminded her of their own bickering.

"He is _not_ stupid, _Miles_," she chastised, purposely using his true first name that she was well aware that he hated.

Glaring at her, he retorted, "It's not my fault that you go for _stupid_ guys, _Madelyn._" Maddy glared right back. She loathed when people used her full name. It just irked her for some reason, and Logan knew that too.

"Funny," she said in return, sarcasm evident in her tone. "You really aren't one to talk about stupid guys, you know," she added wittily.

"At least I didn't get pregnant when I was only fifteen!" Logan said, his fists clenching by his sides a bit.

"No, but you're probably going to get one of your dirty, one-night stand girlfriends pregnant one of these days, right?" Maddy questioned, narrowing her sharp, green eyes at him.

"What does pregnant mean?" Aubrey inquired obliviously.

"Enough!" Booli shouted at the two bickering siblings and sighed as he ran a hand through what little hair he had left after coughing a bit. "What did Noah not like anyway?" he asked once everyone had calmed down a bit while rubbing his temples. At the slight change in topic, Aubrey's fingers tightened their grip on the upper corners of the piece of paper that she had in her hands. She had only just realized that she could show Booli her creation, not just Logan, and excitedly walked over to him. She practically shoved the drawing into his face, so he could swallow what was on it and tell her whether her drawing was great to look at _and_ take in.

Saddly, when Booli looked at it, his shoulders slumped a bit, and Maddy subconsciously cringed a little because she had an idea of what was about to come, but she didn't want him to have to say it to Aubrey. She didn't want Aubrey to go through anything that she ever had. "What is this?" His voice was calm, quiet. Aubrey had no idea what was about to come. What she was about to be told.

"Art," Aubrey said as if the answer was obvious, which it was, but she had no idea that the person she was talking to couldn't agree any less. He didn't see the art.

"Aubrey," he told her gently, "are you aware of how broad of a topic art is?" And Aubrey shook her head. "Art is anything creative and meaningful. So art is actually music and acting and... well, it's a lot of things," he conceded.

"Like drawing," Aubrey stated matter of factly, and frowned when her grandfather ended up shaking his head at her. "Drawing isn't art?" she asked, disappointment lingering in her tone of voice as well as confusion.

"Some people think it is," he admitted slowly, trying to figure out how to explain it to her. "But... not _all _people do. Or at least all the time." He gently took her picture from her hands and held it up beside him, motioning to it with almost painfully slow movements almost like he really did regret telling her this. "But this," he said, "isn't. It's just... cartooning. It doesn't really have any meaning."

Aubrey stared at him, her expression blank except for the incredulous look stirring in her eyes like animals stirring in bushes inbetween the green and lush trees thriving in her fragile and innocent orbs. "Yes it is," she debated, her usually smiling lips turning downward in a frown as she lightly puffed out her cheeks. She seemed to refused to grasp onto what he was trying to tell her.

"No, it isn't Aubrey," Booli argued stubbornly and strictly, his voice raising slightly, though it was only slightly because he would never dare to _really _raise his voice at Aubrey.

"Yes it is," she repeated, crinkling her stubby nose again. "Mommy does it all the time, and she's the bestest artist ever!" she exclaimed as she ran over and started going through her mother's things. Once she found what she was looking for, she took it out carefully so as not to tear the paper and walked back over, grinning as she pushed the picture over to him as if it proved her point in every way, shape, and form. "See?" she asked expectantly, pointing down at it. "Art!"

Maddy watched as her father looked at the drawing, focusing on his face. At first, it seemed blank as if he didn't really understand exactly what he was looking at yet. Then it started to gain more emotion. He took a deep breath that caught in his throat a tiny bit, but he swallowed it down, clenching his eyes shut tightly and uncomfortably as he did so. His cheeks appeared thinner and tighter as he looked over every detail, like, even though he had just taken that breath, the air had still been knocked out of him. He couldn't get it back, no matter how hard he tried.

"Who is that?" Ava asked as she looked over his shoulder, for she had never seen Maddy's mother before, but Logan also looked a little taken aback at the drawing when he saw exactly who it was. He had never really had a mother figure after all and didn't understand anything about her. He knew what his father told him because the only memories of her that he had were from when he was very, very young, and there were few recollections that he could still just barely grasp onto. Although he wasn't going anywhere in the forseeable future, it was almost as if he moved further away from her everyday because he remembered less and less.

"It's a lady, obviously!" Aubrey answered, pursing her lips together as she tilted her head to the side and glanced at her mother's very detailed sketch. She had no idea that this was a real person that she was staring at. She didn't know that they had a story and a life of their own besides being etched into the paper. That was their beginning to her, and the coming of an eraser would be its end.

"She is- was a realist," Booli corrected her seconds later, his knuckles becoming a white color, even paler than the rest of his body already was. Somehow, it showed both weakness and strength in him, and Maddy realized that he too was holding onto what little strength he had left. He was weak though. Very very weak and shaky. "A realist pulled into lies." And with that, he stood up, short like both of his kids, and trudged towards the stairway that led upstairs where he could be alone. Unfortunately, Maddy wouldn't have any of that. She didn't want to displease him, but she did want to know what he was talking about. She wanted to know possibly too much.

**~. ~.~ .~**

Later, she sat in her bed in her house with Noah by her side. He had decided to stay there for that night and had returned her car to her since his was back, and, though it was not the usual thing that he would do, he comforted her because he had a bit of an idea of what she was going through as she stared ahead of herself with disbelieving eyes. She breathed in and out with rugged breaths as she had done all her life, but they were now much more difficult to get out because she now had the knowledge that she had been desiring for so long. Part of her felt like she had always known where it was going, but she didn't want to believe it. Now that it was confirmed, she wished that she hadn't asked. Hadn't wanted to know. Knowledge was a dangerous thing, like pictures that showed too much. Details were both beautiful and horrible. They made your knowledge strong, but your heart and knees went weak.

"Don't worry," he would tell her, "They'll help her get better." But she knew how it would go. She knew that he was lying, that she was lying, that so many lies had been passed onto her, and sometimes, she didn't even realize it. She had even lied to herself. So many times. Everything was not alright, not right at all, but she had tricked herself into believing that it was. Her mind was cluttered and clumped and tangled and twisted. Nothing seemed to fit or be in the right place, and she wondered if that was what her mother was feeling, just to an even further degree. If some things had been unplugged and others had taken their places. If the realistic voice inside of her had been replaced with ones that were bringing her harm. She also wondered if one of them could have possibly been her own.

* * *

_Question: What happened to Maddy's mother? What did Maddy "lie" to Beck about? Please leave your thoughts in a review and also tell me if you enjoyed the chapter. I appreciate any feedback that I can get. Thank you for reading._


	6. Trapped

_**Taking Chances**_

_**Chapter: 6**_

_**Forum Replies: Accidentally lost through editting :(**_

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddenly Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in. I also do not own the Matched Trilogy. Ally Condie does._

**_Chapter Quote: "I'm just a butterfly, a mourning cloak, sealed inside a cocoon with blnd eyes and stiky wings. And suddenly I wonder if the cocoons sometimes do not open, if the butterfly inside is ever simply not strong enough to break through." -Ally Condie, Crossed_**

* * *

There was humming in the back seat, and a tiny girl was sitting there to accompany the soft and tranquil voice as she giggled and flipped through a coloring book. It wasn't the same as using the clean, white, and fresh papers that her mom let her use at home to create the picture for herself, but she still found it to be fun and artistic. No matter what, no one seemed to be able to convince her otherwise.

Also sitting in the front was none other than Beck. He still had no idea why he was driving Aubrey around, but he didn't completely mind. Completely. He understood that, for some reason, Maddy wasn't around and that the babysitter that she usually paid couldn't watch Aubrey all day. Ava had told him. And he knew that Ava was unable to watch her that night because of some sort of project, but he _still _didn't understand the situation. He had no idea why Maddy had left so abruptly or where she was going, but Ava had said something about visiting California for awhile with her dad and brother and that Aubrey couldn't come with them because she started kindergarten a few days before they would be returning.

It was his first night watching her. Every other time, Ava had insisted that she do the job alone while Aubrey's babysitter couldn't be there, even when Beck had offered to help her, and Noah was out doing something that neither of the two knew what it was. Ava couldn't get around letting him assist her this time though, and he wasn't completely sure if he was happy about that anymore. At first, he had felt a sense of pride knowing that he had gotten around her seemingly untamable stubbornness and had grinned victoriously, but he realized that he was truly clueless as to who he was spending his night with and what to say. It was odd; he was considered to be great around girls, but he had to spend one night with the daughter of some mysterious one, and he was suddenly not sure how to handle the situation. He could date Jade who threatened to kill people with toilet paper and scissors, but he couldn't make himself comfortable spending too much time with a four year old girl.

On the bright side, it was going to be his last night watching her as well. She had begun kindergarten three or four days prior. He couldn't really remember which it was, but he had heard from Ava that Maddy would finally be returning the next day, so he had little to actually worry about. He was picking her up from school where she had just finished soccer practice, and he was bringing her home where he would have to give her her dinner, get her to do any homework she may have had to do, and get her ready for and into bed. That was all. If he could handle going to school with people like Cat, Robbie, and Sinjin, he could do that with little to no issues.

"I'm hungry," Aubrey then told him, looking up from her paper. On it, she had been coloring in a bear with big eyes and a friendly smile as well as lots of fur that made him appear fluffy enough to hug. In reality, she was a bit afraid of bears, but the picture looked cute, and she had made its fur pink, and its eyes were blue, which reminded her of cotton candy, and she associated cotton candy with happiness, so she was content. Her soccer ball, which was black and white checkered, continued to roll around on the floor, moving back and forth past her feet that dangled down from the spot where she was sitting.

"I know," Beck replied as he turned the steering wheel and kept his eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead of him, "but we'll be at your house in ten minutes, and you can have some dinner."

Aubrey crinkled her nose and shook her head. "We can't have dinner _now," _she stated matter-of-factly and pointed at the digital clock lit up with bright, blue numbers on the car radio beside him, above all of the different switches and knobs that helped turn up the volume and change the station. "It's only four o'clock," she reminded him before bringing back her short arm, so it was beside her again. "That's too early for dinner."

"Well what do you want to eat?" Beck asked. He threw a glance back in her direction as the soccer ball hit the back of his chair. "Can you pick that up?" he questioned, and she nodded, reaching down to get it, but she was unable to stretch her arms out long enough, leading him to sigh as he ran a single hand through his hair, the other remaining placed on the steering wheel.

Aubrey tapped her chin thoughtfully when an idea came to her mind, and she smiled a nice, big smile that lit up her entire face. Her two dark and fluffy braids bounced, and her emerald green eyes sparkled as she suggested, "Can we go to Cassia's Creamies?" Cassia's Creamies was an ice cream shop, and, though she had never been there herself, she figured that it must have been cool when she heard some other girls on the same soccer team as her discussing going there together after practice.

Beck considered this for a moment before nodding. "I guess we can go there," he said, and, since he had passed it enough times to know where the shop was, he turned around without the need of a reminder of where he was going. They headed back into the area that was more of a city than the part that they lived in or went to school at as he headed towards the little outlet of stores. There were several small shops lining it, but one had a sign with a big picture of a pink ice cream cone, and the name of the store written in slick letters, and he parked especially close to it. As he did, the soccer ball hit his chair again, and he groaned, throwing his head back exasperatedly. It had been doing that the entire time they were in the car, and he was getting sick of it.

"Sorry," Aubrey apologized a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head with her small hand as she used the other to unstrap her seatbelt. He waved a hand and let out a dismissive sigh, and she smiled as she hopped out of her seat. She fumbled to open the door but did it, and Beck was out of the car as well a second later. She grinned, but it fell as he began walking towards the store by himself and left her standing alone in the parking lot.

When he realized that she hadn't started following him, he turned around to face her again, confusion written on his face. "Aren't you coming?" he questioned, and she nodded but seemed a little timid as she turned her head from side to side. Once it clicked in his mind, he sighed. "You aren't allowed to cross the street alone, are you?" he asked her, and she nodded her head quickly, confirming it. He paused but held out his hand to her, and her exuberant facial expression returned when she grabbed it and began to skip beside him as he walked more calmly on her side, opening the door for her when they managed to finally reach the store.

"Thank you, sir," Aubrey said as she let go of his hand and bounced into the room with her excitement palpable as it practically radiated off of her. Though happy to see Aubrey so happy, Beck felt like he had just let something important go, and his handed seemed a lot colder without her tiny one resting inside his palm, and her fingers slipping through the tiny spaces between his own, so that they could be intertwined.

"You can call me Beck, you know," he told her, and she looked at him oddly.

"Beck?" she repeated, scrunching up her face a bit. "Like... Becky?"

He chuckled. "No, not like that... It's just Beck," he clarified and smiled down at her. She seemed a little wary but nodded and shrugged a single shoulder after a minute, deciding that that answer was sufficient. "Now," he began as he led her towards the counter where they had transparent glass that let them see all of the flavors of ice cream there. There were labels that told exactly what each of them was just in case it was difficult to tell. "What flavor do you want?" he asked her, looking down.

Aubrey stood up on her tippy toes and stared at the different jugs. There were so many colors. She knew that brown was chocolate, and white was vanilla, but there were so many other colors and even several of those two. Brown and white. Some were lighter. Some were darker. Others had little pieces of what she thought could be chocolate inside them but others looked like they had bits of cookie dough like little balls formed from the stuff that her mother would buy at the store when they were going to make a batch but didn't feel the need to start all the way from scratch. "I don't know," she conceded after a minute as she just continued staring, her expression blank like a doll's. Her eyes would open and close to reveal orbs that showed no real emotion or understanding.

She hated to feel such confusion, and that was part of the reason that she liked drawing. Dolls and stuffed animals you could touch and move, but pictures were the ones that really moved. Even if they didn't physically, she loved to imagine that they could and what they would do based on how the artist drew them. Sometimes she would even try to identify all of the possible things that the object in the picture could be doing. They had feelings and showed actions that were both clear and obscure, and teddy bears with clear facial expressions stitched onto them could never ever have that kind of effect on her.

"Well, you have to make a decision," Beck reminded her.

"I can't read the labels," she admitted, touching one of the paper slips attached to the glass in front of her with her finger. "I can't read." She frowned and tried looking at it again. "I know that that's an _a_," she stated, pointing at the lowercase letter inside of the word _chocolate_. "And that's an _e_," she added, motioning to the end of the word. "But only because they're in my name, and my mommy taught me how to write that." Sighing, she confirmed, "I can't _really _read anything."

"Hey," Beck said and leaned down to her level. He took one of her hands again and felt that warmth again. She was so sweet that even her palms were comforting to hold. Not too hot or fiery, not too cold or cynical. She was just Aubrey, and that was all that she ever needed to be. "You don't need to be able to read yet," he said, and she tilted her head to the side. "That can wait for later. For now, all you need to be," he began and ruffled her hair, "is you."

"What about the ice cream?" she asked, her rosy cheeks puffing out a bit as she stared at it all with no idea what any of it could really be.

"Want me to read the names for you?" he asked and laughed amusedly when she nodded, her energy returning as her eyes lit up, and they turned to face him with their total and complete attention. "Chocolate," he began as he pointed to the one that she had been looking at, "vanilla, vanilla mint-"

"Vanilla mint?" she questioned and strained her legs so that she could look stand up taller and look down at the various ice creams again. It was green, but otherwise, it looked pretty much the same as the vanilla one to her, and the vanilla looked exactly like the rest except for that very simple, common difference: color. "Who came up with that idea?" she asked, and he laughed again. Maddy would probably never ask that, but she had been with Ava so much that week that he figured that her loudness and blunt attitude must have had at least a little bit of an influence on the young girl, unless she said that kind of thing already.

"I don't know," Beck replied.

"I hate mint," she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest. "It burns my mouth and tastes funny," she commented, making a disgusted face at the very thought of putting something that tasted that way into her mouth.

"You mean it's too strong for you?" he pretended to wonder aloud, a slight teasing tone appearing in his voice. He rarely showed this much emotion around others, but who wouldn't smile and laugh around Aubrey?

"No," Aubrey responded as if it was the most ridiculous idea that someone had ever brought up to her. "How can a taste be strong? It's not like it works out everyday," she told him, "and besides, I just finished soccer practice. I'm tough!" She showed off her bisceps, even though there weren't any very noticeable muscles there, and Beck laughed before continuing his listing. He might not have gotten along with Maddy the majority of the time, but Aubrey was a completely different story. They were getting along so well, and he really felt like he was connecting with her. For some reason, there just seemed to be an almost instantaneous bond between the two. Once they were past the awkward barrier that had kept them silent and apart originally, they were absolutely fine. Better than fine, actually.

"Strawberry, coffee, cotton candy-" he read each of them off before he was interrupted once again by a large gasp.

"Cotton candy?" she asked, squeezing his hand which she still gripped tightly. "I love cotton candy!" she exclaimed and bounced up and down. "Which one is that?" she asked, and he pointed out a jug containing a big amount of the blue colored and chilly desert. "Ooh! I even love the color! Blue is my favorite! Can I have that?" she questioned, looking up at him with huge puppy dog eyes that one could not just refuse. She also pouted her lips in order to further convince him.

"Of course," Beck stated chuckling before looking around again. "I think I'm gonna have the coffee ice cream," he thought aloud before nodding, considering it a fairly reasonable idea. He loved coffee, after all. He may not have tried the ice cream flavor before, but that was mostly because he wasn't the biggest fan of sweets, and he rarely had ice cream, but he was still fine with trying it. As long as he was there, he figured that he might as well eat something.

So Beck grabbed Aubrey's hand and looked up, catching the eye of one of the employees who then walked over to them. She smiled at him in a flirtatious manner and leaned over the counter, so their eyes locked, brown meeting gunmetal blue. He smiled back but mostly to be polite, seeing that he recognized a girl that only cared for his looks when he saw one, as he motioned to the ice cream and stated simply, "We'll have one ice cream cone with cotton candy ice cream and another with coffee please."

The girl straightened up and furrowed her eyebrows as she turned her head from side to side, making sure that her long, brown hair flew from side to side in front of him and over her small shoulders. "We?" she questioned, her makeup caked face contorting into one of confusion and palpably fake innocence. When Beck motioned down, she looked down at Aubrey, and an annoyed look flickered on her face for a moment before she restored her act and gushed, "Aw, is this your little sister? She's so cute!" She reached out to pinch one of Aubrey's cheeks, but Aubrey took a step back when her hands came close to her.

Beck ran a hand through his hair and glanced at Aubrey. He had never really noticed how much she really did look like him, except for her eyes which looked a lot like Maddy's own green ones. It wasn't completely unreasonable for the girl to assume that they were siblings or at least related somehow, but it still made him feel weird realizing their resemblance. Still, he was hoping for the girl to lay off, so he smiled at her and used the information he had recieved from her statement to his advantage. "Actually," he began, "she's my daughter, and we would really like that ice cream now, if you wouldn't mind."

Carmen, as he realized that that was what her name was when she finally pushed her hair out of the way and revealed the name tag on her shirt, raised her eyebrows all the way up to her hairline while Aubrey just looked up at him with an unreadable expression. Her eyes were a little wide, but there was a smile creeping onto her face that he didn't understand the reason behind the presence of. "Your daughter? But she's like three, and you're like twenty!" she protested, throwing her hands up in the air. She had completely forgotten her whole innocent act and was blowing the situation out of proportion. A few of the other workers looked at her and shook their heads, and Beck questioned if they were used to this sort of behavior coming from her.

"Hey!" Aubrey said and pouted. "I'm four and a half!" she informed her and took her hand away from Beck's once more as she crossed her arms over her chest, and her shoulders slumped.

"Carmen," a woman approaching them told the girl with a warning tone before looking at Beck and Aubrey and smiling warmly. She had lightly tanned skin, emerald green eyes, and chestnut hair, like her daughter's except much lighter, that reached her shoulders and curled at the ends. She seemed to be in her late thirties but still had a warm and energetic vibe to her. "I'm sorry about her. She means well, but sometimes she can get a bit carried away. What would you like again?" she asked, and Carmen puffed out her cheeks exasperatedly as she lightly stomped her foot on the floor in aggravation.

"_Mom_," she whined to the woman, and Beck was surprised to find out that she was the much kinder woman's daughter. "I can handle this."

"Really?" the woman asked and looked at Carmen with a single eyebrow perked. "Okay. What was their order then?" she questioned, looking at her expectantly but with the slightest smirk because she was well aware that Carmen had no idea what they had ordered. It was obvious that she had been much too distracted; it wasn't the first time that something like that had happened, and it certainly would not be the last, unfortunately.

Carmen opened her mouth to answer, but no words escaped as she wracked her brain for the memory. She stayed like that for a moment, just thinking, before she finally gave up.

"Exactly," the woman said before looking around. "Kyle?" she called out, and a man with dark skin and bright, blue eyes like Carmen looked up. "Can you watch her?" She motioned to Carmen, and he chuckled but nodded as Carmen reluctantly walked over.

"Of course, Cassia," he told her before walking away with Carmen. "Come on, sweetie. You can help me scrub the toilets!" he suggested, and she looked at him as if he was insane as her face morphed into one of pure disgust.

"_Dad!_" she complained but complied and followed him out of the room and in the direction of the bathrooms while carrying the plunger that her father had handed to her to use.

Cassia's shoulders shook as she let out a tiny, quiet laugh at her husband and daughter before she turned back to look up at Beck. "I really am sorry. She can be a bit forward." Beck nodded, and she continued, "What did you two want to have?" She walked over to the glass that concealed the ice cream and lifted it up as she took an ice cream scooper from a little container beside her as well as two ice cream cones.

"Coffee for me and cotton candy for her," Beck repeated, and Aubrey grinned.

"One scoop or two?" Cassia questioned as she moved over to the coffee ice cream while also eyeing the jug that had the cotton candy ice cream, so she wouldn't have to search for it amongst the others instead of just remembering where it was for when she got Aubrey's ice cream.

"Um, I'll just have one," Beck replied but then looked down at Aubrey who, in her giddiness, mouthed, _Two please!_ He smiled at her clear excitement and looked up again. "Two scoops of the cotton candy ice cream though," he added, and Cassia nodded, getting that for them. She took the scoop and dug it into the ice cream, twisting her hand a bit and pulling it up slowly before plopping it into one of the cones, and she did the same with the cotton candy, but she also got out some sprinkles of many different colors and looked at Aubrey with a friendly smile.

She asked, "Would you like any sprinkles on yours, sweetheart?" If Aubrey did not want it, she did not make that clear because her head moved up and down so quickly that Beck was pretty sure that it was likely to fly right off, and the woman let out yet another light-hearted laugh at her actions. "Alright," she responded as she pushed on one of the lids on the top of the container. It revealed a few holes that were just big enough to let some of the sprinkles on the inside slip through, and she held it over the two blue scoops of ice cream in her other hand, shaking it, so the tiny pieces of rainbow fell onto and into it, creating an even more colorful treat.

Beck took his and Aubrey's ice cream cones and handed Aubrey hers when the woman held them out, and then he began to pull his wallet out of his pocket, but, before he could get it fully out, Cassia stopped him. "It's on the house," she said and smiled at him. Beck opened his mouth to respond, but Cassia stopped him again. "Take it," she told him, and it was clear that she was not about to change her mind and make him pay, so he just smiled and thanked her as he took Aubrey's hand and led her back to one of the various tables situated throughout the room.

"Thanks, Daddy," Aubrey thanked Beck as she sat down, and Beck's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She just shifted in her seat in the booth that they had gone over to and licked her ice cream obliviously but very happily, but he stared at her, questioning if she was alright.

"Daddy?" he asked, and she nodded as if it was nothing and refocused herself on the ice cream in her hands. "Aubrey, I'm not your father," he told her, but she shook her head defiantly at him. "Why would you think that I'm your dad?" he questioned, and she stopped licking her ice cream, shutting her eyes tightly when she felt herself getting a brain freeze before slowly lifting one of her eyelids and looking at him again.

"You said you were," she stated simply as she tried opening her other eye up again and released most of the tension in her shoulders which she had raised when the feeling of extreme cold had overcome her body. "When you were talking to that mean lady," she clarified, and, when he remembered what she was talking about, he began to curse but stopped himself short upon realizing who he was with again. Instead, he just smoothed back a piece of his long hair that had gotten in his face and looked at her sternly.

"Aubrey," he repeated, "I'm not your father." She blinked, and he continued, "I only said that because that girl was... well, she was being a bit rude, and it made her stop." He felt the need to choose his words carefully, but Aubrey still didn't seem to get his point as she focused on another part of what he had said.

"She was still being mean," she reminded him. "She said I was three! I turned four a long time ago, and I'm a big girl now!" she stated as her lips curved downward.

"You're right; she was," Beck agreed with her, "but I didn't think that she would be, and that was why I said what I did. But you aren't my daughter."

She finally glanced at him completely, turning her entire body to face him, and what he saw was heartbreaking. Her smile had turned into a huge frown, and it looked painful and almost unnatural for her to make it like that. She was so used to smiling, but his words had upset her, and her eyes were wide open, looking almost on the brink of tears. He never expected this from her. He didn't realize that she probably wanted a father more than anything, and he couldn't stop himself from cursing himself out as quietly as possible because of course that would be something that she wanted probably more than she even realized. "So you lied?" she asked. "That's one of the biggest rules out there! You never lie!"

"I thought that the biggest rule was to treat others the way that you wanted to be treated," Beck said but felt bad a second later. He wasn't supposed to be correcting her. He was supposed to try to make her feel better, and his words were coming out all wrong.

Aubrey's arms tangled with one another in front of her like roots fixed firmly into their place where they sink into the ground. She told him, "Not lying is a part of it! But you did! NoNo didn't try to pretend to be my daddy!"

Beck sighed as people started to turn their heads in their direction, giving him funny looks. "Come on," he whispered to her and grabbed her hand, picking her up and moving towards the door. They left, and he carried her over to his car, putting her in the passenger's seat before climbing into the driver's seat once more. Once he was in, he turned around in his seat, looking her in the eyes sternly, and said, "Look, I'm sorry that I said what I said, but-"

"You lied to that girl too," Aubrey cut him off and played with her soccer ball, which she had picked up, in her hands. She pushed it between her palms, shifting its weight from one hand and onto the other. As she did, her mind was running all over. For one slim second, she considered telling him that she was sorry and that they should just go home, but another part of her was feeling like that would be stupid, even though she knew that stupid was a really mean word. She was angry at him for lying because her mother always tried to tell her that lying was a terrible thing, and everyone would be so much happier if no one did so. It was the golden rule in their house, and she couldn't believe that Beck seemed to not know about it.

"I know I did," Beck spat out quickly and felt his stomach sink with regret after he heard how harsh his hasty words had come out.

"Why?" Aubrey asked, and Beck was then rendered silent. He wanted to scream that it was because of Jade as his frustration grew, but he bit his tongue to keep himself from going that far. He had also gotten a bad vibe from Carmen, and she looked a little bit familiar, but he wasn't exactly sure why. He didn't think that he had ever met her, but perhaps he had. He didn't remember a lot of the girls he had met because Jade was always the one that he saw, and she was intent on making him forget about them because they weren't important. While dating her, it became so much easier to forget. Their relationship wasn't always the best, but they did love each other. They always told their selves and each other because it felt so good to say. Love was a weird word. It didn't roll off of the tongue too easily. It was like it warned you that it was an important word, and it wasn't right to throw it around, but once you did get it off of your chest, you felt like you conquered something. You wanted to keep saying it until it did feel natural, and you didn't have to have that tiny feeling of holding back.

"Because I have a girlfriend already, and she was getting a bit too close," he explained in an even tone, and she tilted her head to the side, looking at him long and hard for a moment before breaking into a grin and giggling loudly. Beck blinked; she was smart for her age and stubborn, but she still didn't seem to have that big of an attention span, and he had no idea why she was laughing.

"You have a girlfriend?" she repeated and laughed. "You like a girl!" As she continued to giggle seemingly uncontrollably, her ice cream cone fell, and the cold desert got on her clothes. "Cold!" she exclaimed with a gasp, and Beck looked around for something to wipe it up with, but there didn't seem to be anything for him to use, so he got out of the car, telling her to stay there, and went back into the ice cream shop. Grabbing a couple napkins, he ran out again and headed over to where Aubrey was.

"Here," he said as he got into the seat next to her and dabbed at her clothes while pushing what was left of her scoops of ice cream back into the cone. Some of it got on his hands, and he wiped it off with another one of the napkins.

"Becky?" Aubrey asked, and Beck chuckled with a response of, "Yeah?" She smiled and said, "Thanks."

"No problem, Aubster," Beck replied with a grin and ruffled her hair. Then, they finished their ice cream together in the backseat before Beck ate the last bite of his coffee ice cream and wiped his hands off, so he could go back into the driver's seat and drive them back to Maddy's house.

**_~.~.~_**

When they got there, Aubrey did her homework and drew for a little while, Beck gave her dinner, and then she got ready for bed, getting in the shower and getting dressed in her pajamas, which were pink with green stripes and had pictures of cupcakes on them. After all of that, Beck had tucked her into her bed, but Aubrey stopped him when he was about to leave.

"What's wrong?" Beck asked and sat down on the edge of her bed, so he wouldn't end up sitting on top of her feet.

"My mommy always tells me stories," she explained to him and sat up in her bed instead of staying in her laying position where she was constricted by the blankets covering her body and could barely move.

Beck nodded in understanding and inquired, "Do you want me to read something to you or make it up on my own?" Either way, he was fine with it. As an actor, he was very familiar with a plethora of different stories and situations and had no problem coming up with a plot on the spot. He had been in many different plays and even some movies, even if most of them had been created for school purposes, and some he had written. Others were created by others. Still, if he had never gone into acting, writing would most likely be something that he would be into considering he had always done it a lot. He practically breathed stories and always knew how to stir up trouble for his characters but never actually attempted to cause problems himself. Drama was always something that he stayed out of unless he was trying to portray someone else because whenever he did actually end up caught in the middle of it, he did practically become a different person. He was frustrated in comparison to his usually calm persona and just wanted things to stop.

"Come up with one," Aubrey practically demanded. "My mommy's read all of the stories that I have here a lot. They get kind of boring after awhile," she admitted, and he laughed. It didn't really surprise him. As long as he had known Maddy, he got the feeling that she was completely absorbed in doing what she thought was right for Aubrey. She didn't focus on much else and acted like a bit of a pushover at times, trying to be as great of a mother as possible. Her kindness only ended when she was around him, and then she got a sort of backbone. She would get crass, and he didn't know exactly why. He didn't really try to provoke her, but she still seemed to have something against him being around.

"Alright," he said as she crawled out completely from under the covers and sat beside him. "There was once an organization called the Blonde Squad," he told her as a recollection popped into his mind. Though it was only a few years back that he had created his short film, it seemed so far in the past. New York had already begun to change him, and looking back at his high school years was a bit odd, almost bittersweet. He still communicated with Andre of course since they were best friends, and he and Jade were also always calling each other, so Jade could stay updated with what he was doing considering she hated not knowing what was going on, but he had sort of lost connections with many of his other peers. He knew where Cat and Robbie went to college, and they texted each other occasionally, but he didn't have much of an idea where Tori had gone, and Hollywood Arts, his old school, had definitely left its mark on him, but, at the same time, New York had quickly become a big part of him as well as he adapted to its life style, and he wasn't sure when he had started to get this feeling that things were so different.

"The Blonde Squad?" Aubrey asked and brought him out of his thoughts, causing him to nod. "Was everyone in it blonde?"

"Yes," Beck replied and tried to explain. "There were all different kinds of blondes working with them though. There were agents, but there were also people who worked behind the scenes, and some of the blondes were really smart and sneaky, but others didn't know much." She looked intrigued, so he continued, "But there was a robbery, and three of the organization's best agents had to be on the scene as soon as they got the report. They were trying to figure out who had robbed the place, but no one was there when they arrived besides a parrot locked up in a cage, and he was the only witness that they could find."

"A parrot?" Aubrey looked at him incredulously and commented, "That must have not been very helpful."

"He wasn't at first," Beck agreed and was about to go on when they heard a noise and turned towards the door. There, Maddy was standing with the some of the used napkins from Cassia's Creamies in her hands, but she also looked surprised that Beck was there yet tired, for there were subtle bags beneath her eyes, which also appeared a little bit red and puffy. "I thought that you weren't coming back until tomorrow?" Beck said, his statement coming out like a question due to his clear confusion.

"I got an early flight," she told him and came over to sit down next to Aubrey, immediately wrapping her daughter up in a hug. It looked particularly tight and also kind of tiring for Maddy who appeared to really need to rest, but Beck still didn't interrupt them until he shifted his position uncomfortably because, though it didn't show on his face that he was feeling awkward, the silence lingering was a bit weird for him to sit through. When he did move, Maddy broke the hug, though she still kept one arm wrapped around Aubrey's shoulders, and turned to him, holding up one of the napkins. "What is this? Where's Ava?" she interrogated him with a small yawn that didn't make her or her questioning seem as intimidating. She looked him straight in the eyes, and when she wasn't looking at him with that hard and almost pained look, and instead there was almost a kind of softness around her eyes, he thought that she looked kind of beautiful, but he kept in mind that she was tired and so was he. They both needed their sleep.

"It's a napkin from Cassia's Creamies," he explained to her, furrowing his eyebrows at the haphazard importance of the presence of the napkin before adding, "and Ava had to do something for a school project, so she asked me to watch Aubrey tonight." He noticed Aubrey try to wriggle out of her mother's arms and felt his confusion heighten. She seemed to know something that he did not, but he had no idea what was so wrong at the moment. "Is something wrong with that?" he asked slowly, looking back at Maddy again. Her eyes hardened again, and part of the softness left before she sighed in frustration, and it returned as she tried to calm herself down a little.

"Aubrey's lactose intolerant," she informed him and turned to look at her daughter. "Why didn't you tell him that you aren't allowed to have ice cream?" she questioned and perched a single eyebrow as she gently yet sternly brought Aubrey back into her lap from where she was almost under the covers again.

"I was curious," Aubrey said and pouted, trying to make her mom forgive her through her cuteness. "I just wanted to know what it tasted like," she elaborated and started batting her eyes, causing Beck to let out a laugh, though he shut up when Maddy sent him as much of a glare as she could muster at that point in night.

"I thought that you were against lying," he decided to say instead, clearing his throat. "So why did you?"

"I didn't _lie_," Aubrey told him and clambered off of Maddy's lap. Once she was off, she walked over to her nightstand where her ponytail holders that she had used for her braids from earlier were and put her hair up into a messy ponytail. She wasn't good at doing it because she had trouble with how she had to do it behind her head and couldn't look back, so Maddy came over and helped her fix it. "You didn't ask me if I was allowed to have it," she said, and Beck and Maddy both raised their eyebrows.

"You've been spending _way _too much time with Ava," Maddy commented as she picked Aubrey up again and brought her over to the bed to tuck her back in. "Lets all just go to sleep," she said, shaking her head. She reasoned, "We can deal with this in the morning..."

"What about my story?" Aubrey asked and looked over at Beck, sitting up a little again. She pushed her arms back and used them to hold herself up. "I want to know what happened with the parrot and the Blonde Squad."

Maddy's face became one of bewilderment at the odd topic, but she shook her head and stated calmly, "Sweetie, you need to go to bed, and so do I. Beck probably does too." In response, Aubrey frowned but nodded as she got up again and went over to Beck to give him a hug. Maddy went over to him too, but she didn't hug him. Instead, she asked, "Why don't you just stay here tonight? It's getting late."

When she said that, Beck knew that she was too tired to think clearly. She didn't even like being stuck in the same classroom as him, so the idea of her suggesting for him to stay in the same house as her, even for just a single night, was odd. Still, he didn't argue with her because she was right that it was late. He couldn't imagine how tired she was having gotten off of a flight from California, but he was whipped from spending his day with Aubrey. He really did not give her enough credit for how well she took care of her. Even though he enjoyed hanging out with her, it was definitely a lot of work to look after a child. Also, he didn't have to worry that he would have to get up early the next morning to go back home and get ready for school because the following day was the beginning of the weekend, so he didn't have much of a reason to try to argue with her. He might regret it when he woke up because he wasn't sure if she would be happy with herself for letting him stay, but, at the moment, he simply pushed that thought aside and broke his embrace with Aubrey.

"Goodnight," he told her, and she said the same thing in return before finally allowing him to leave the room. As he closed the door behind him, he could hear her and Maddy telling each other the same thing in hushed tones, and he smiled as he walked across the hall. He noticed a room on the other side and walked in. The walls were all a pale green color, and there was a book shelf with both novels and textbooks cluttering it. When he looked to see the bed, he noticed that the comforter was a dark blue color, but the pillows were all matching and white, and there were two nightstands beside the bed, one on each side. The one on the side that he walked up to had a radio on it, a glasses case, a PearPod, and a few books sprawled on top of it. There was also a crimson purse laying on its side.

He took the books off of it as he sat down on the bed, looking over their covers. One was green, the other was blue, and the final was red, each with the same author. _Ally Condie. _They seemed to go together, especially juding by the pictures on the front. In the first, there was a girl trapped inside of a large sphere, but in the second, she was starting to break out, and in the final one, she was free and could stand up on her own. He put down the green and red ones and took the blue one where the girl was still trapped but was beginning to break free before flipping to the first page of the actual story. The first line that popped up was, "_I'm standing in a river. It's blue. Dark blue. Reflecting the color of the evening sky._" As he continued to read, he barely noticed when the door opened until he heard a large gasp and finally looked up. Maddy stood there, and her cheeks were flushed a color of red that was even deeper than the picture on the cover of the final book. The girl who was freed of the sphere wore a bright, red dress like the sun as it climbed the sky in the very beginning of the day.

"I meant that you could sleep on the couch!" she said, and he blinked before realizing that he was in her room, and they could not sleep in it together. He immediately sprung up and moved past her, heading downstairs and towards the living room where the couch was. It was green, and he suddenly felt trapped like the girl as he laid down on it, arching his back in weird ways in failed attempts to make himself more comfortable. When he gave up, he just pulled a blanket over him and laid still while staring up at the ceiling. He noticed a few cracks in the paint, but it didn't surprise him that the house wasn't perfect. If Maddy could buy it when she was nineteen, then he felt that it was obvious that some things would be broken or could easily break. But he closed his eyes, trying to sleep instead of looking around the silent room, and started thinking about Maddy was always shutting him out, and whenever he felt like he was getting somewhere with her, he was sealed away inside a sphere, rolling around in it aimlessly and not sure which in direction he should go in or how he was supposed to do that. And everything became jumbled in his mind before he was finally drifting away, and he fell asleep with blackness surrounding him in the usually sapphire walled room.


	7. Maybe You Would Have Chased Me

**_Taking Chances_**

**_By LunarEclipse22428_**

**_Chapter: 7_**

**Forum Replies:**

**Kaurz9802- I loved this review. I LOVED it. You're so sweet, LLT! And you are the truly talented one, but thank you so much for the kind words. I really tried to make the chapter as cute as possible because I wanted Beck and Aubrey to have a chapter where they could cement a good relationship, so later it wouldn't be just random if they acted friendly. They are slowly going from strangers to becoming what they really should be like already: father and daughter. Plus Aubrey was meant to be sneaky and adorable but still innocent XD It's a nice combination. :) Actually, Aubster is not a new nickname. In chapter three I believe, Ava called her that, so Beck just kind of picked up on that and decided to call her that too. She's very smart, but she's still only four, so she is adorable and funny all the same. It really helps to build up irony, which I love. The daddy situation literally came to me while I was writing, and I immediately knew that I had to go with it. I have so many plans that I am putting on hold, but I knew for a fact that I couldn't push that one back at all. Aubrey is probably one of my favorite characters as well because od how sweet she is, but I'm really just proud of myself for how many characters that I have created for this story. Some haven't been mentioned yet, and a lot of them have, but, for the majority of the characters, I've made it up so, even if they've only been in one chapter or something so far, many of the characters will have roles later on. Very few are just thrown in there randomly, and I'm glad about that because it gives me the chance to give them some backstory and work with them instead of just putting them in to never be mentioned again. Also, the hand moment I felt like could be something sort of sentimental between them because Beck can tell that there's something at least weird about Aubrey and Maddy, but he can't figure it out, and even though he can't, he still cares for them. And Maddy is definitely putting all of her effort into Aubrey. Unfortunately, Beck can't remember Aubrey because Maddy left before he or anyone else could figure out that she was pregnant, and she didn't tell anyone, but she didn't just leave him and everything else behind for nothing, obviously. In her mind, it was within reason. The scene where she came in and saw him on her bed was supposed to be kinda funny, and yes I included the Matched Trilogy. In all honesty, it wasn't just because I like it though. One of my favorite books features an allusion to _The Giver_ because the protagonist has some issues figuring out her emotions and everything, and Matched is very similar to _The Giver_ because it's a dystopian novel as well and has a somewhat similar plot with similar internal conflicts, so I could relate that to both Maddy and Beck who are trying to figure things out. The beautiful thing was hard to write though. I would love for them to just be happy and in love, but I have a serious dislike for when characters abruptly and randomly get together in stories. Some people can make it work, but I like building up onto things, and Beck is still with Jade. Like I said, Beck and Maddy both have many internal conflicts. As for the length, I think that this chapter is a little longer than the last one, but the difference isn't too great, so, since you like it long, I guess that this is about the length that the chapters will usually be. :3 Thanks for the review!**

**jadylnn- Thank you! I'm really glad that you enjoyed it and that you look forward to updates. I think that the thing you said about getting online and getting excited about reading this was really sweet. I feel really blessed that some people actually enjoy my writing at all, but that was just a truly amazing compliment, and I... that's just awesome. I'm still improving, but that comment just literally warmed my heart so just know that some random, anonymous author without any actual writing career or anything has been flattered beyond belief and commends you for your absolute kindness. I will have to warn you that I have standardized testing in like a week, but after that I should be updating normally again. Moving on to the actual contents of the chapter, I planned on them bonding that way. It was their little unknown father-daughter moment, and it featured a whole lot of dramatic irony. I mean, I don't want to have to write in later that they are just randomly close because that just won't work in my mind, so I want to have a clump of chapter befor I delve into the actual plot or even during the actual plot where the main thing isn't conflict, but it can mostly center around defining the characters and how they react towards each other. I feel like establishing that for future reference is the most important thing right now while some there are some twists here and there that will come into play later, so it doesn't get completely stale, and I can keep you guys on your toes. XD And yup, Aubrey can be a little sneaky at times, but you can't really blame her. She hangs out with Ava a lot, gets along well with Logan, and has to figure out how to get things past Noah who she, along with many others, doesn't really agree with very much. XD They don't agree a lot since they're like polar opposites in some ways, so, you know. She was practically born to be a sneak. But even so, I do want to and hope that I have more or less gotten across that Noah isn't actually a bad person. I have very slightly hinted at the reasoning behind why he is who he is, and though I don't necessarily really like him, he was not created to be disliked because I seriously can not stand love triangles like that about ninety percent of the time. He and Maddy just don't fit, and he does have some problems that he needs to solve, but he's overall an okay guy just with some evident flaws. That's also part of the reason that there wasn't much tension between Beck or Noah at all when they met. One of my mottos has become to stay classy, so I want to write with respect for all of my characters. Everything has reason. Aubrey, Noah, even Carmen. And that's something that you may want to keep in mind, though I won't say anything more than that. ;) Thanks again for the review!**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddenly Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in. Also, I do not own the Fun. song "Some Nights" or the lyrics from it that are mentioned within this chapter._

**_*Chapter Quote: "Setting someone free is the hardest thing to do... but it's not the tears you cried that make it so hard... It's the small piece of hope left inside your heart that someday you'll still end up together..." -Anonymous_**

* * *

Crepuscular circles under the eyes, clammy cheeks, and strained screams. It all came so instantaneously once they walked in, and since her mother was no different, Maddy went through all of that shock that had surged through her when she first learned of what had happened once more. She had continuously tried to convince herself that this was all just a mistake. Her mother was perfectly fine and normal, but she could no longer deny that things were not the way that she wanted them to be. She knew that things were not perfect, and she would never dare to say that they were, but this was even worse than she had ever imagined, and part of her wished that she had expected something like this because perhaps the pain would be lessened. Even if the assistance would be minimal, at least it would assuage some of the augmented anguish.

"No!" the screams came, and she recognized this voice. It was who she was looking for and yet hoping to not have to see. She thought that she wanted to come and visit, but she was coming to terms with the fact that there was some remorse. She felt regret because part of this was her fault. As bad as things had already been, it was her fault that it escalated so much, and she was obligated to at least try and take part in some sort of solution. She had to cross this obstacle and come to terms with what had happened in her absence, but it was such a long stretch to reach over and _jump over_ the bump in the road to cross over to the other side, and it hurt just to stand there and take it all in, let alone take the jump and search for closure.

When the owner of the voice finally came into view, fighting a nurse and trying to run down the hall towards somewhere far away from where they were supposed to meet, Maddy took a sharp intake of breath, and her father gently rubbed her back, trying to comfort her, even though she could tell that he was trying to stay strong as well. This was the woman that he had once loved more than anything, after all. However, Logan stood more off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes fixed firmly on the ground. Still, despite all of their differences, Maddy understood this reaction in some ways and probably in other ways did not. She remembered what it had felt like when she had first truly met her father when she came to New York and the slight fear that she had experienced that things would not work out the way that she had hoped, but to meet someone that you knew _of_ but didn't actually know and to find them in such a state must have been difficult. It was difficult for all of them, and Maddy wondered if it hurt more that she did know her and could never get back that understanding or the relationship that they used to have because things would always be different now or if it hurt more that Logan didn't know her and never could know who she used to be before all of this began.

The nurse eventually got Maddy's mother to come over and stop struggling or at least for the most part, and Maddy noticed how much she had changed from the mental picture of her that she had always kept in her mind and held up onto such a high standard. This woman had fallen and fallen hard instead of standing, even if she had been standing hunched over, metaphorically beaten and bruised by everything that she was going through so secretly. Her long, dark hair was fading and had several grey strands sticking out amongst the deep brown locks. She didn't know if it was because of the stress or because she had had left years ago, and perhaps it was simply due to the fact that time was passing, and she was getting older, but she didn't want to think about it. Both made her stomach fall because on one hand, the familiar woman before her was suffering so severely, and on the other, she was growing closer and closer to ultimately losing her every single day, and she had completely abandoned her for so long. She had lost so much time and abandoned her own mother in an attempt to be a good mother for her own daughter, and the logic in that decision seemed so much weaker now that she looked back on it years later.

"What are you doing here?" her voice came out a bit raspy, and her eyes were wide with fear, and Maddy tried to search for the warm, brown orbs that she used to find comfort in when she was younger, but all that she could see were dark eyes, and they did not lead to anything. Her soul seemed to be completely lost in the darkness that had surrounded her. "Wh-why did you come?" she questioned and backed away a few paces. The nurse quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and brought her back over before she could try to run off again, but Maddy asked the nurse to let go of her, and the nurse, although confused by the request, complied, taking her hands off of Maddy's mother's small shoulders before slowly turning around and walking away, looking over her shoulders to pay them the occasional perplexed glance as she did so.

Maddy walked over to her mother and looked up into her eyes, desperate to find even the tiniest trace of the woman that she used to look up to. "We're here because we want to help you get better," she said quietly and forced a small smile, trying to keep it from faltering, even though she was positive that her mom could still see the forlorn lingering in her eyes. She reached her hand out to grab hers, and she was surprised when, in the short second before her mom pulled her hand away, that she could feel fading cuts and scars on and around her mother's palm.

"You can go to the hospital cafeteria, if you would like," the nurse suddenly suggested, lifting the heavy air that had begun to float around once an awkward silence had settled. At this idea, Maddy smiled a bit and nodded because she hadn't eaten since she had gotten off of her plane, and her mother definitely looked way too thin. It was almost frightening; she looked as if she could be only one or two sizes bigger than Maddy, and Maddy had always been on the super skinny side. She still was. She remembered that people used to call her Short and Skinny Schneider, and she would blush a little but not say anything because she didn't like to be put on the spot. Plus, she was never completely sure whether people meant it as a good thing or a bad thing, but it was definitely a bad thing when she had quickly lost the weight after she was pregnant with Aubrey. Even Ava had been a little concerned that she had starved herself or something judging by how fast that it had all gone away, but most other people just shoved her around and made jokes about it. It was humiliating, but she didn't actually starve herself. She just didn't eat a lot, and her body pretty much naturally lost it all, but she wasn't sure if the same went for her mother. She was unnaturally skinny in comparison to the way she used to be: still skinny but from a healthier standpoint.

"Alright. Follow me," the nurse told them, and Booli and Logan immediately began to follow her, but Maddy hung back with her mother who had yet to move. She gently tugged on her arm, and her mother started to reluctantly walk behind all of them. "Remember," she began once they all made it to the cafeteria, her eyes fixed on Maddy's mother, "you can only participate in any group activities if you eat something." Maddy's mother nodded silently, and they all moved over to an empty table, minus the nurse who simply observed them as well as many of the other patients and visitors around the room. There were many women besides her, dressed exactly the same and wearing that fake, sugary sweet expression, throughout the room. Maddy understood why her mother didn't seem to like any of them. Many of them had some sort of bitterness to them underneath the kind front that they put up, and she wasn't sure if they even cared about helping the patients. She respected that they did help, but she didn't respect the lack of effort they seemed to put into it.

"We'll go get some food," Booli volunteered as he and Logan stayed standing, and Maddy nodded, bidding them each a quiet goodbye. Then she turned and looked at her mom again. They did nothing but stare at each other for a few seconds before they both had to look away because neither could bring out the courage within them to help the other cross over the very top of the obstacle, the most difficult part to jump over, especially on your own. It was nearly impossible to do on your own.

"Why are you really here?" Maddy's mother asked, looking at her daughter with sharp, amber eyes as if she was trying to analyze her every movement and what could possibly be brewing beneath them. She squinted and looked as close as possible, causing Maddy to shift uncomfortably under her stare, but she did not make the slightest move that implied that she was planning on averting her gaze to anything or anyone else, and part of that actually comforted her. Her mother was always so intent on getting away from people, but this made her feel like maybe she could get better. After all, now she was refusing to leave, even if it was only because she wanted information.

"I told you," Maddy reminded her, and her eyebrows met up above the bridge of her nose as she scrunched them up in confusion, and the gears in her mind churned, but no reasonable explanation popped up into her mind. A second later though, she realized that maybe she was too busy listening to the voices in her head to listen to her. She could think of several instances from five years before then where this had possibly occurred and to other people as well instead of just her. It was common for her mother to not listen to people but try to make them listen to her. It was just that, before she left, she had never tried to get the voices to listen to her by voicing her own opinions aloud. Everything was much too hidden and obscure with her, and she wondered if it was because she did not want people to worry or if she did not want them to talk back even more than she already thought that she heard them do it. "We want to help you," she repeated for clarification.

"No." She shook her head. "You don't. You're the one who left me. If you cared, then you would have stayed," she pointed out, and the tiniest trace of a tear poked out from her eyelid, causing her eyes to appear glassy, and Maddy didn't know what to do to keep her from falling down harder than ever and breaking into even smaller shards that she wasn't sure if anyone would ever be able to piece back together. But Maddy already felt like she had had dozens of shards thrown directly at her, and they had pierced her with their sharp edges as she came to a definite realization: she was the person who was to blame. She had suspected it, but she didn't know for sure. Now she had so little hope because, all along, she had tried to make good desicions and think of others, but she was still failing to realize that she was hurting some of the most important people in her life at the same time. She had no idea how she had ever made such a choice, even if she may have not realized it: who to help and who to hurt. It was impossible to help everyone, as unfortunate as it was.

"I didn't mean to," Maddy tried to protest, but her mother shook her head and glared at her, causing Maddy to inch backwards and gulp a little bit. Her mom had never ever looked at her like that, and she didn't like it now that she was. "I wasn't thinking straight. There were just... some things that I had to leave behind, and I didn't realize that I was going to have to group you with them," she said, hoping that it was starting to make some sense. Her mom still didn't seem convinced though.

"Why did you have to leave so much behind?" she questioned as she took a deep breath in order to try and remain calm. She was working on trying to hear people out and not listen to the voices of people who she couldn't see, but it was difficult, and she had to concentrate. She could see Maddy, so she had to focus on the words coming from her mouth, so she wouldn't mistake them with the ones coming from her head.

Maddy felt like she was about to burst. Tears stung her eyes, and she clenched her hands by her sides, letting her nails dig into her palm. She was suddenly so frustrated, and she she didn't know why. It was odd talking to her mother again because she had missed out on so much, and Maddy didn't like to share her story with anyone. No one knew the full thing. It was much better to hand it out in snippets and only to people that she knew that she could trust because people could be tricky, and she had no idea who she could tell and let that information weigh down on their shoulders. She didn't know who they would tell or what would happen when they did tell someone, which she was firmly convinced that they would, and her mom was no different. Maybe she wouldn't try to tell anyone, but she would be caught shouting about it when she had one of her arguments with herself, and then everyone in the hospital would know. Information could spread quickly like a wildfire, and Maddy didn't want to get burned by it.

"I was pregnant, okay?" she whispered harshly and bit her lip. She hadn't told anyone that she had known back then, and she felt even more on edge now that it was out there. It was lingering in the air as her mother processed it, and she couldn't take those words back, no matter how much she wanted to or tried. "I had to leave. I didn't want anyone to know," she added quietly, wanting to make it less awkward. It only made it worse though. She felt like she was telling too much, but everything was still not clear, and she was talking to the one person who didn't know when to stop demanding answers. Even Ava had her limits. Her mother no longer did. They were both standing on the edge of that bump in the road, and there was a gap. They could easily fall in if they didn't make the jump, and their only other option was to run away, but neither could. There was too much on the line now.

Her mother was quiet for a few moments as she let that all sink in, but something didn't make sense. That was the last thing that she had expected from her daughter who always used to be so quiet and kind. She didn't speak out of turn. She didn't talk back. She only did what she thought people would like, and as that thought flashed in her mind, her mother suddenly had a disturbing idea that could have explained it all. "Were you raped?" she asked hesitantly. She swallowed a bit and looked at her daughter closely.

"NO!" Maddy denied it possibly a little too loudly as her facial expression looked appalled, and many people stared at or glared at her, and she sheepishly apologized before looking at her mother. "Why does everyone I tell think that? No, I was not raped!" she told her more quietly this time, but her mother was watching. She noticed the slightest shift in her gaze and the way that the corner of her mouth twitched the slightest bit when it turned downwards, and she knew that something, though she wasn't sure what, was wrong.

"You're lying," her mom stated simply and looked at her daughter with an almost blank expression, despite the topic. She seemed void of emotions, even though her mind was on the run. The gears in her mind churned, and she searched for some kind of answer, but answers were something that she had lacked for years. It was all up to guessing. "I don't know where the lie comes in," she admitted, "but you are lying."

"No, no I'm not," Maddy protested, but her mother leaned in closer, and she scooted back awkwardly to try and get some more space for herself. "I didn't get pregnant because I was raped," she said honestly, but her mother wasn't having any of that. She could tell that her daughter wasn't lying; she always hated doing that, but there was still something off, and she wanted to know what it was. "Aubrey's father wasn't a rapist," Maddy repeated because, even though she didn't still love him, she felt the urge to defend him. Everyone was acting like he must have been some sort of bad guy, even him, and she did sometimes too, but she didn't regret what she had done with him. She didn't regret bringing Aubrey into the world, but that didn't necessarily mean that she would do it again.

"Okay," her mother replied and leaned back to give her daughter the space that she wanted, but she still had one more thing to say. "You may not have gotten pregnant because you were raped, but that doesn't mean that you didn't get raped because you were pregnant," she told Maddy as if it was nothing important as Logan and Booli came back with some food for each of them. She turned to face the table and forced the smallest smile as she took an apple from Logan. "Thank you, Miles," she said, and Logan's own smile faltered.

"I go by Logan," he corrected her, and she frowned but nodded as she then thanked him and called him Logan instead this time around. All the while, Maddy was in complete shock. She stared at her mother with widened eyes. It struck her as odd that the person who was having trouble telling what was real and what was fake was the one to figure her out without even any help. She had told her father and Ava what had happened when she was pregnant, but no one else knew of it, and even they had no idea who had hurt her or how she had become pregnant in the first place. That had occurred when it was obvious that she was pregnant, so Aubrey was on the way long before then, and Maddy had just been happy that, when she next got checked up on, nothing appeared to be wrong with Aubrey. She didn't feel the need to bring it up to her doctors when everything was fine. There was no point in adding anymore stress.

Keeping that idea in mind, Maddy decided that it was best to follow her mother's lead and not talk about it either. Instead, she tried to brighten up the mood and just have a pleasant meal with her family or at least as pleasant as she could possibly make it. Her mother, as the lunch went on, seemed almost calm and happy with the visit, and it comforted Maddy that she could still act normal around them at the end of the day. Despite a few scares, she _was_ the person that she remembered, just a little more stressed out, and they managed to give her as little to stress over as they could, so she was overall fine. The nurses didn't even have to come over and check up on them like they did with some of the other patients around the room. Some of them had visitors, and some of them didn't. Some seemed content with their visitors or lack of, and others were having trouble expressing what they were feeling about their situation. Everyone in there was so diverse, and, even though Maddy didn't necessarily like the nurses, she still held her word and had a certain respect for them as they tried to help with all of these different people, even if the job sometimes became tiring. They were still helping people.

"_Frankie_," a woman let out an exasperated sigh as she sat down next to a little boy who looked a lot like her, most likely her son. "I know that you don't like it when the doctors tell you to move to a new hospital, but we have to help you settle here. You can't start fights with the doctors or the other patients. _That's _why they sent you here this time. You were just a little too much to handle." She ran her fingers through the hair on top of his head, smoothing it down for him and also clearing a space for her to place her lips on his forehead. "And moving here might be better," she told him with a small smile. It was sad, but it seemed like the most that she had to give him. "This way your sister can visit you too," she stated and motioned to a girl standing up beside them with straight, razzmatazz locks that fell down past her shoulders, curling at the ends. Maddy looked at this girl closely. Something seemed familiar about her.

"You swear you'll visit every week, Catty?" the boy asked, looking up at his older sister. Maddy couldn't see his eyes because his face was turned in a different direction, but she could still imagine the practically pleading look that was probably in them.

The girl smiled a bit and sat down next to her brother on the bench surrounding the circular table. Giving him a tight hug, she replied, "Every day." Then she, just as her mother did, pressed a light kiss onto his forehead adoringly. A tall man who was also present that Maddy assumed was both of their father also did the same, though he palpably tried to make himself seem a bit more manly and tough, even though it was obvious that he was just as affected by his son's situation as his wife and daughter, even to Maddy who was just watching from the sidelines as her mother and brother were talking about everything that had happened to Logan since he and her dad moved to New York.

Maddy's dad started to gently rub her back, and she noticed that he was also looking at the family. "That little boy's so young," he whispered to Maddy who nodded, frowning. It was depressing to see someone so young in a place with such a serious purpose.

Suddenly, the boy's sister looked up, her red hair flying as she moved so swiftly but falling gracefully onto her shoulders after, and gasped. "_Maddy_!" she called out from her table, quickly getting up and scrambling over to their table. She stumbled a little bit in her high heels but plopped down in the space left between Maddy and Logan, looking at the other girl with wide but excited eyes. "How've you been?" she questioned in a high, exuberant voice as she pulled Maddy into a huge bear hug. She then turned to Maddy's mother and greeted, "Hi, Mrs. Schneider- I mean, Miss Hadiman!" She quickly corrected herself and used Maddy's mother's maiden name as she gave a small wave.

"It's actually pronounced _Hadeemun_, but you're on the right track," she stated. "Hi, Cat," she then added and smiled back at the girl before turning to Maddy who looked confused as she looked between Cat and her mother. "You remember Cat, don't you, Maddy?" her mother questioned, and Maddy began to shake her head when she saw the offended look in Cat's eyes and stopped short. "You two went to school together," her mom tried to remind her, and it finally clicked in Maddy's mind who the girl that she was talking to was. Recollections filled her mind, and she broke out into a grin.

"Oh my god, Cat!" Maddy exclaimed and hugged the redheaded girl back. "I _do _remember you!" And she did. Having been very quiet and uninvolved with other people, Cat was one of the few people who she could hang out with. _Cat _was one of the only people who could understand her and see her as normal, for Cat was the type of person who was able to think that almost anything was normal after it was explained to her, and even though Maddy had less to tell back then, and she hadn't even told Cat all of _that_, she was definitely less secretive and quiet around her than around other people, and she did regret not keeping contact with her, but she was friends with _him_, and she couldn't risk him finding out where she had gone. She thought that it would be terrible if he managed to follow her, but she also had the fear that he would figure out where she was and just _not _follow her. She would know that she was one of those girls who became pregnant in their teens and had the father just walk away.

Cat laughed and pulled out of the hug but didn't leave. "Where have you been? I haven't seen you since you left Hollywood Arts!" Cat said, and there was the tiniest sad tone in her voice for a moment, but it quickly vanished, and she was just the happy go-lucky person that she naturally was again. "Where did you go?" she asked, seemingly genuinely curious. She wasn't as sad as she was in that brief moment anymore, and she only seemed to want to know what had happened to her friend and why she had left so abruptly. She _was _the person who Maddy used to confide with before she moved away and became best friends with Ava, but Maddy wasn't sure if she could tell her everything, so, as she had always done, she decided to tell her just enough to keep her satisfied with the information she had or at least for the moment.

"I, uh, moved to New York," she told her, and Cat gasped but started to practically bounce in her seat. Her eyes lit up, and a huge grin plastered her facial expression.

"That's so exciting!" Cat commented and didn't ask why. She just continued to be excited for Maddy, and it struck Maddy that she had and hadn't changed much since they last saw each other. She still didn't ask why. She asked why not, or she didn't ask anything and just went along with the ride with a big smile. Still, she did seem to have matured at least a little bit, judging by the way that she had been around Frankie and her new way of dressing. The Cat that she remembered was zany and wore colorful clothing that matched her personality, but this Cat's fashion choices were a little more understated. She wore more solid colors instead of bright, neon jackets and skirts that were completely different colors but worked because her hair managed to pull it all together. Also, she herself seemed a bit more understated. She wasn't shouting, "What's that supposed to mean?!" Still, she was surprised that she didn't recognize her at first.

"Yeah, I guess it was pretty exciting," Maddy conceded. Life had never exactly been normal for her, but that wasn't really the word that she would use to describe her experiences. Exciting made her think of a thrilling ride on a rollercoaster, but her experiences were more relatable to the person who didn't enjoy the ride but felt terrible the entire time and, at the end, got sick. It was difficult, and it was painful at times, but she wouldn't trade it even if she had the chance. The idea of not knowing Ava or her father or her brother and not having Aubrey in her life made her even more under the weather like she had just slowed down after doing several loops and points where the cart hastily went up and down, and it was time to let it all out. She wasn't willing to let go.

"You missed so much!" Cat told her and took an apple for herself from the food that Maddy's father and Logan had brought. They were about to tell her that that was actually for the family but quickly stopped theirselves, putting their hands down and closing their mouths. Maddy's mom had given them a look before turning back to look at Frankie, and they glanced at the boy very briefly as well before averting their gazes. "I mean, you never even met Jade, and Tori came like a year after that!" Cat stated, and Maddy furrowed her eyebrows in confusion since she wasn't really sure who Cat was talking about, but Cat still started going on about things that they had done, getting far ahead of herself as she continued speaking to no one in particular.

"Oh, and there was the time that Tori sang at the Platinum Music Awards! Jade almost did, but it was only because Tori got fired the day before them, and Jade felt bad practically being her replacement," Cat said, sighing contently at the positive recollection.

"You knew a girl who sang at the Platinum Music Awards?" Maddy's father asked in awe, and Cat nodded happily, confirming it. "Wow," he commented simply, his pupil's dilated as he leaned back a little, gripping onto the edge of the table to balance himself since there was nothing behind him to support him, and he needed some sort of support as he took this information in. "Tori... You mean Tori Vega? She sang... um, I think it was called Make it in America, right?" he asked for clarification, and each of his family members, practically simultaneously, rolled their eyes because only he would remember something like that from years ago, as long as it had something to do with music.

"Yeah! That was Tori!" Cat answered but tilted her head to the side after a moment, a perplexed expression overcoming her face. "How did you remember that?" she asked, both admiration and confusion laced into her voice. "Most people don't even recognize her," she stated and frowned because she was happy for Tori but wished that she could have gotten more credit, so she could really reach her goals. They were best friends. Obviously, Cat would know that she deserved it considering how hard she always saw her working, and it made her sad that not a lot of people actually seemed to agree with her. Tori wasn't very popular amongst the public yet as a performer, and she wasn't either, but she was confident that they, along with everyone else from Hollywood Arts, would manage to make it some way and somehow. Still, Cat was different than the ditzy girl that she was when she was attending high school. She was still naive, but she had also dealt with a lot more. Her brother, along with her parents, had come back to California, but only because her brother had caused some trouble back where they used to keep him, and, at the moment, she was trying to put him first because she hadn't seen her family at all in awhile, and she could wait for a little bit before going to college.

"Our dad," Logan told her, "claims to know almost everything there is to know about music. Even though he doesn't make it, he's still completely obsessed with it." Maddy nodded in agreement. Her father did not like art, but he supported them both fully whenever it came to anything that could be related even the slightest bit to music. If Maddy's guitar was giving her trouble, he would have her a new one and an amp maybe a week later. If Logan couldn't think of anything to write for a songwriting class, he would bombard him with music from his favorite bands all day long to try and give him inspiration from their lyrics. Even if Aubrey said that she was having a bad day or something, he would just get out a bunch of CDs and records, and he would start playing a bunch of music while spitting out random facts about the artists or just random "fun facts".

Booli laughed a little at Logan's exasperated tone of voice, not really offended but more amused by his son. On the other hand, Cat looked at him and, only just noticing his presence, questioned, "Do I know you?"

"We did go to preschool together," Logan said, thinking that that would make her remember. She just stared at him with a blank expression though, so he continued slowly, "Maddy's my sister..."

"Doesn't ring a bell," Cat admitted and bit into her apple again nonchalantly. "This apple's so good! Granny Smith. Andre would probably like it," she told Maddy who grinned. "You remember Andre, right?" she asked just for clarification, and Maddy nodded, but she made the mistake of looking at Logan's face, and her face went bright red when she saw him and tried to maintain her composure instead of letting out the bursts of laughter that she was trying to hold inside of her.

Logan tried to keep a straight face as he continued to give her little tidbits of information, reminders, and hints every several seconds, but Cat still remained oblivious to who he was. So Maddy held up her hand to stop him from saying anything as she then turned to face the oblivious redhead seated beside her. "Remember that time that our teachers in preschool let us have an entire art day, and a few of us drew all over that really long piece of paper that they brought out, so they could hang it up outside the school?" she questioned, continuing once she saw Cat nod in understanding, a smile beginning to form on her face at the pleasant memory. "Logan was the kid who stuck the crayons up his nose and called himself a walrus. Well, '_ralrus_'. He couldn't really pronounce it right yet," she explained, light laughter escaping her lips as Logan turned to glare at her, but it worked the trick, and Cat gasped.

"I remember that! Hi, Logan!" she greeted him and waved excitedly, but her parents started walking over all of a sudden, and Maddy turned to look at them, tapping Cat who had not managed to notice them as of yet on the arm, so she would turn her head as well. "Hi, mom! Hi, dad!" she said but then frowned. "Where's Frankie?" she asked and ran a hand through her long locks before placing her hand down on her bare legs again. She was wearing a simple pair of jean shorts, a very casual piece of clothing, and it made Maddy think that maybe that was how, after such a long time of dealing with it, she viewed this kind of thing as well: it was completely casual. That was her view of almost everything else, but it still saddened her that anyone, especially someone so sweet, would have to go through the pain of seeing their little brother in such disheartening places. Did Cat even understand how serious it was, or was she just as naive as he probably was or at least used to be?

"We have to go, Catty," her father told her, and Cat frowned but nodded as she got up but not before turning to Maddy again. She took out a little notebook and scribbled something down before ripping a little piece of the paper inside. She handed it to Maddy who read it as Cat and her parents walked away. _Cat's #: 555-0245. _And there was a smiley face at the bottom of the note, its smile curved but a tiny bit crooked and marked with pink pen. Seeing this, Maddy grinned and folded the paper in half, the bottom half which was a bit torn up in a messy diagonal line that she figured Cat meant to make straight tickling against her calloused fingers as she then stuffed it into her pocket to look at again at a later time.

"Bye, Maddy!" she heard Cat yell and waved at the retreating redhead who flounced out of the room while also waving but more frantically and with larger hand movements. Maddy kept her hand pretty much by her side, but Cat went all out.

When she faced her family again, she noticed her mother staring ahead blankly and her father looking a bit appalled, and she scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion. "What's wrong?" she asked and looked back and forth between her parents contradicting expressions, her mother's appearing unresponsive, and her father's looking disquieted. "Are you okay, dad?" she questioned, scooting closer to him who mumbled something, but he enunciated it poorly, so it came out in mumbles that Maddy could in no way manage to have even the slightest possibility of understanding. "Huh?"

"Who told you that?" he whispered louder and more fiercely in her mother's direction, and she just shook her head at him with her lips pursed firmly together, forming a straight line that didn't give absolutely anything away. She didn't lean one way or another, and she didn't have to worry about letting any information slip. It was something she had learned to do when people would speak to her, and she didn't want to tell them anything that the voices could possibly use against her. She was always trying to protect herself from the voices rampaging at her within her head. Maddy's father looked at his bewildered daughter. "Did you tell her about _it_?"

Maddy instantaneously knew what he was talking about by the emphatic tone he had used, assisting her to make the connection. She glanced at her mother who, this time allowing knowledge to be granted, gave a lopsided smile, and Maddy turned back to her dad, shaking her head. "She figured it out on her own," she whispered back, and this time her mother's smile turned into a full on grin when she realized that she truly had been correct with her assumption, not even thinking about the danger and just glad to not be told for once that she was wrong and that everything she thought that she knew was lies. Maddy averted her eyes. "She asked about why I left, and I told her about Aubrey... then she asked. I didn't answer, so she came up with her own," she elaborated.

Her dad nodded a bit warily, his eyes still widened just a little bit as he looked directly at his ex-wife. Maddy wasn't sure whether he was looking at her in disbelief or wonder, but she wanted desperately to know. That want dispersed though when her father leaned back only to remember that there was nothing behind him again and fall onto the ground. Jumping out of her seat, Maddy leaned down and helped him get up from his position on the floor as he rubbed his head where it had hit the ground. "Are you alright?" she asked him, her expression resembling his own from mere seconds ago, but hers definitely reflected disbelief and worry.

He nodded, sitting down again and holding his head up with one of his hands which was propped up on the tabletop. Still, his sight was a little fuzzy for a few moments more, and he blinked, his eyelids and lashes chasing the fuzziness away and leaving a clear sight in front of him again. He noticed a nurse coming towards them, and he smiled a bit at her. "I'm fine," he reassured when she was close enough to hear him. "Don't worry about me." The woman seemed to be considering going when he motioned for her to do so but decided against it, moving next to him and laying a hand on his shoulder gently, and Maddy felt a twinge more of respect overcome her for this woman since she was showing that she actually cared, but there was a feeling in her stomach that made her want to snatch the nurse's hand, carefully avoiding scraping herself on her extremely long nails, and slap it away from her father.

Her mother's facial expression looked torn, and she said quietly, "No." Then her words gradually grew louder, and she began to furiously shake her head as she screamed, and all of the visitors who were easy to point out stared at her, but the other patients seemed completely unaffected and simply continued eating or just staring at their food like many were doing as if absolutely nothing was happening around them. "NO! Stop! Stop! Get away!" she shouted, holding her hands to the sides of her head, and Logan and Maddy flinched a bit at the harshness and extreme volume of her voice, inching backwards with hasty movements and almost falling like their father had their selves.

She felt something tugging at her but, when she looked around, couldn't see anything, and the room went black, and she couldn't even feel the shakes or tugs anymore or even see anything- only hear her mother's screams continuing to reverberate in the blackness, in the nothing. Perhaps it was her mind? But she could feel the words. They were in her mouth, and all of a sudden, she was able to blink, her eyelids seeming much heavier than before, and she could make out something or someone standing in front of her as she blinked away a bit of grogginess that had immediately overcome her. When it was, for the most part, gone, her mother, father, Logan, and the nurse along with all of the other patients and visitors were gone, but there stood Beck, and she nearly choked on the air she sucked in when trying to gasp. Instead, her sound of surprise came out as a series of coughs, and Beck sat down next to her, hitting her back as gently as he cold in an attempt to stop her violent coughing and spluttering.

"Th-thank you," Maddy thanked him when she was finally finished coughing and could speak once more before clearing her throat to help herself speak more clearly. She was about to ask what he was doing there, but she looked down at her clothes which were the same as the ones that she had worn on the plane back home and remembered the night prior with a small sigh. She had let him stay. She had told him to stay. And she couldn't take that back. On any other day, he probably would have woken up extra early and left or woken her up just before school, but it was a Saturday, and he had no reason to leave just yet. She felt a little bit of flattery that he didn't go, but it was short-lived. That wasn't the point, and she didn't want her mind to be cluttered with thoughts like that when he didn't even realize who she was. Just because he didn't leave didn't mean that he would have if he had known why and where she had left; they were two completely different scenarios, completely incapable of being compared.

"No problem," Beck said and smiled at her a bit before getting up. He gently grabbed her hand, pulling her up and out of her bed carefully and letting go just a little awkwardly after holding on for a few moments longer than needed. He didn't seem as sleep-wracked as her, but she watched his facial expression as it went to kind to calm and then it went to a thinking face before it was simply odd and possibly somewhat sheepish, and that was the moment that his hand left hers before going up to graze his fingers through his long hair. It was still very fluffy as usual, but she wasn't sure if he had brushed it yet, so some strands were messy and out of place, but he didn't look very out of the ordinary in comparison to her. She looked down at herself and her clothing: the same blue sweatpants and the same baggy, grey Fun. t-shirt with some of the lyrics from one of their songs on it. "_But I still wake up, I still see your ghost Oh, Lord, I'm still not sure what I stand_ _for,_" and, "_I try twice as hard and I'm half as liked, But here they come again to jack my style_." She wore the words.

"If you're interested," he told her, and she looked up suddenly, being broken away from her thoughts, "Aubrey and I made breakfast for you."

"Why?" Maddy asked and ran a hand through her own hair. She was sure that she looked horrible, even though she was wearing such wonderful words, and surely, when her fingers brushed through her locks, she brushed through tangles that she had to put in a bit of effort to get out. She hadn't showered, washed her hair, or anything the previous night. She had simply been too tired, so she merely washed her face and then found herself unable to even think about doing anything else, so she had gone straight to bed from there without another thought. The only complication was when she had seen Beck in her room and on her bed, but that had managed to make her even more desperate to just get some sleep and leave that day behind.

"We just decided to do it," he replied with a shrug of one of his shoulders, smiling at her again with a half smile that she had come to realize that he was very fond of sending people. It was confusing; she didn't understand why he didn't smile completely. It reminded her of her mother who had trouble figuring out her emotions and her reality, but he seemed to just not express his emotions. Maybe he thought things similar to her. It wasn't right to give too much of something, so you had to keep in mind your limits: what you'll give up and what you'll let go. Suddenly, he questioned, "Were you having a bad dream or something? You kinda started yelling at me when I tried to wake you up..."

_Dream_. Maddy felt blood rush to her cheeks, tinting them a pink color, since she was embarrassed that she had yelled at him, but then a wave of panic came over her, and she quickly pushed her hand into the pocket of her sweatpants. Her fingertips were searching, and they clutched around something, causing her to hear a satisfying crinkle made by a piece of notebook paper. She felt the uneven sides and let out a tiny breath of relief that part of her hadn't even realized that she had been holding. The paper from Cat was still there. She didn't just imagine that part; it really happened. "I was just thinking about what happened during my trip..." she told him, not saying anything more or anything less about the dream or the occasion that it was about.

Beck didn't question her further at all, and she was glad for that. He nodded his head in the direction of the door, motioning for her to follow him as he grasped her hand again and started leading her towards the kitchen where she could detect the scent of various breakfast foods. The smells that permeated throughout the house caused her to grin, and Beck grinned back. Although she practically breathed lyrics, around him she found herself to choke a little and splutter, and everything became fuzzy, but things were comfortable in their own special way. She still wasn't completely sure what she stood for, and that was one of the fuzzy things, but she thought that perhaps she could be closer to figuring it out, and she also felt like she wasn't just being half liked anymore. Beck was smiling at her fully, and she knew that he was giving her his all. _Maybe he would have chased after me and stand for Aubrey and I after all._

* * *

_Question: I don't have a specific question in mind for this chapter... I just kind of want to know your reactions, especially to Maddy's little secret. Ava kind of hinted at it in an earlier chapter, and it was what Maddy more or less lied to Beck about, if you didn't pick up on that, just not totally because he was asking if that was why Maddy got pregnant. Also, did you like the appearance of Cat? It came to me while I was writing since, you know, Cat's brother could be there, and I just thought that it would fit in well. It helped provide a little more backstory I think, but I want to know your opinions. :3_


	8. Identity

**_Taking Chances_**

**_By LunarEclipse22428_**

**_Chapter: 8_**

**Forum Replies:**

**Kaurz9802- I wouldn't call my writing flawless at all, but thank you! But we've discussed this before. You have nothing to envy. XD If anything, I envy YOU! Just saying. X3 Anyway, moving on, that was what I was planning. I thought that putting a character from Hollywood Arts there would definitely make the chapter more interesting and probably help later on, so since it would make sense for Cat to be there, once it came to me, I had to fit her in! Plus I agree about it revealing more of her past. This way, at least someone remembers her being there. And yeah, I did have to tone her down a bit... I was going more for relating her to the season one Cat because she seemed still ditzy but a bit smarter in that season, but her appearance was kind of the same because her looks definitely matured as it went on. I guess I kind of mix and matched with her. XD I was trying to make their interactions work for a little bit. It was confusing how they would react to one another, but I hope that I got it down well. I didn't want them to be melodramatic, but I wanted to show that there was still just something a bit off about Maddy's mom. The last part you kind of have to figure out for yourself if it actually happened though. It was sad, but since the words were in Maddy's mouth when she woke up, did it really happen? XD But I agree with you that it was sad. I do feel bad for the entire family, but they all have different reasons to feel pain and different reasons to try and deal with that pain, I guess. The dream idea appealed to me more than a flashback would have. Maddy was already asleep,and it made more sense to me, I guess. Of course, at the end, Beck had to show up XD Luckily, NoNo wasn't there yet, so I guess that he got kind of lucky there. :D Yes, they are getting more comfortable around each other, but it's going to be awhile. They're gonna take things very slowly, and Beck can't remember everything immediately. It'll be happen in a piecemeal manner, I'll warn you of that. THANK YOU!**

**jadylnn- Oh my gosh, that's so sweet of you to say! I was literally fangirling I think when I read this review. That means so much that you think that my story is that good, but I don't think it's worthy of something so amazing. However, that was really something that warmed my heart, so seriously, thank you. I was happy writing the chapter too because at first, I didn't think that the psychiatric ward would be a very big part of the story as it went on, but I was really happy with that chapter, and I keep connecting it to other parts of the story as it goes on, so I think that maybe it is a more important part now, and I can only hope that people have gotten a deeper understanding from the chapter. You caught onto that being where she was going? I was nervous that no one would make the connection, so I'm glad that you got it! Also, the rape hints I personally think were a little more subtle than that. I mean, Ava cringed a little earlier when thinking about what people used to do to Maddy, and one specifc incident popped into her mind. That and the fact that it was brought up that Maddy sort of lied were the only real hints, I think, unless I'm forgetting something, and I don't think that they had a lot for you to base any inferences on. Anyway, thank you for this review. The spinoff comment kind of made my day, as I said. That was so sweet of you! X3**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddenly Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in. I also do not own the song in this chapter, Hug Me Til You Drug Me or simply Hug Me by Meg&Dia. All the same, I recommend that you listen to the song. Though the entire thing isn't very relatable to the storyline, I thought that some of the lyrics, including the ones that I have used, can, in some ways, be relatable to Maddy's past, and the entire song is amazing, though it may be a bit explicit for some. There isn't a lot of profanity, but it's not exactly a light subject matter either. The other song is indeed called Going Away, and it is an amazing one as well by the same band. In addition, the school mentioned, Profession Performing Arts School, is an actual school in Manhattan, New York; I did not make that up either._

**_*Chapter Quote: "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." -Mahatma Gandhi_**

* * *

"_I'm just a girl learning to act as planned,_

_"I was programmed to be Catholic, but I ran,"_ a sweet yet raspy voice sang from seemingly out of nowhere. It was muffled and quiet, so it was difficult for him to tell, but Beck thought that the singer sounded more feminine. On the contrary, when Maddy heard it, she wasn't trying to figure out what it was. Instead, her cheeks flushed to the point where they looked like the color of a Raggedy Ann dolls' bright, red hair, and the sudden blush sprung nearly but not quite as quickly as she sprung up out of her seat in response to the sound.

_"I changed my race, I changed my name_

_I prayed to them, "Please what is brave?"_

_"I am loyal because I was simply raised that way,"_ it continued, some of the lyrics coming out a bit choppy as Beck watched the girl before him search through her purse for what he assumed was probably her phone. He had no idea why she seemed so panicked though, and he was starting to hate that feeling of confusion he always seemed to get when he was around her. Still, he enjoyed her presence, and he couldn't help but feel like a moth drawn towards a flame. He was intrigued by the light, but that light was exactly what he was afraid would burn him.

Maddy's hand was shuffling around in her bag when she finally grasped onto her phone, pulling it out. At that point, it was moving into the chorus, but that was a sign that, in a matter of possibly seconds, it wasn't exactly unlikely that it would send whoever had called her to voicemail. She quickly hit one of the buttons on the keypad and brought it up to her ear, hastily apologizing to the person on the other line and making gesticulations in Aubrey and Beck's direction that she was sorry, but she would be back soon. As she perambulated out of the room, Beck turned around to see the little girl sitting across from him trying to cut up her pancakes with a subtle frown on her face again. Again, it looked almost like an unnatural facial expression for her.

"Hey," he said, and she looked up and noticed him getting up to come over to her side of the table. He took the knife and fork out of her hands, cutting up her breakfast with more success than she had been making. All the while, he told her comfortingly, "Don't be sad. She'll be right back." She still seemed a little upset, so he furrowed his eyebrows and put the utensils down as he leaned down to her level, gently placing his hands down on his knees as he looked at the small girl sitting before him. "What's wrong, Aubrey?" he asked, extending his hand in order to push a tiny lock of dark hair that had fallen in front of her eyes to the side.

She squirmed a bit in her seat as she grabbed her pancakes in her hands and started ripping them up into bits without the help of the knife since she hadn't been receiving a lot of assistance in her situation from the object. It had only further frustrated her, and she didn't enjoy feeling negative, but at times, it was difficult to remain so happy. Sighing, she conceded, "Mommy's gone." When she was satisfied with the pieces of her food, she grabbed the container of syrup in the middle of the table, straining her short arms to reach over to it, and began to drizzle the substance on top of the fluffy, light cream-colored snippets of the misshapen pancake that they had made resting in front of her on her dark green, glass plate.

Beck let his fingers weave gently threw the brownish black strands of hair resting atop his head and glanced at what she was doing with the syrup. Quickly, he took it in his hands when he noticed that she wasn't really paying attention to how much of the thick and glistening liquid that she coated onto her plate. Her head was placed on her hand, and she was staring straight in front of her with an expression that almost seemed exasperated. "I told you. She's coming right back." He wasn't sure why that thought hadn't seemed to process in her mind, but she shook her head, so he figured that maybe she thought of it, but she didn't want to agree with it for some reason. "What do you mean?"

"She said the same thing before she left on her trip," Aubrey told him, shaking her head. "She followed Booli upstairs, and she said she would be back, but a little while later, she came back and said that she had to leave for a week," she elaborated, pouting as she dropped her fork and crossed her arms over her chest. She reached for her glass a second later though and took a large gulp of lemonade. Aubrey had wanted some milk, but they were all out of any that was lactose free, and Beck didn't want to make Maddy angry, so they decided to make some lemonade. Aubrey wanted to put the sugar in, and she did put in a tad more than necessary, but she didn't seem to mind. The sour yet sweet beverage started to vanish as it ran into her mouth betwixt her parted lips like it was running as feverishly as it could in a marathon. The vivid and bright yellow disappeared, and the sides of the cup were revealed again: transparent, clear, and showing what laid behind it from several angles.

Beck wasn't completely sure who "Booli" was, but he didn't press that question and simply tried to gather what she was trying to say from what he did know. Was she seriously saying that Maddy would leave her? She didn't seem like the kind of mother to ever do something like that. Sure, she had just left for a week, but it seemed like it was for some kind of good reason, even though he didn't know exactly what that reason was. He thought that Maddy was always trying to help Aubrey, so this news didn't manage to sink into his mind very well. It didn't make any sense, but he was starting to realize something important: New York was extremely different from California. Everything there seemed to contradict his old life and yet bring back odd nostalgia at times that he couldn't explain, like when he would have to stop himself from calling Ava Jade because they both seemed so alike and then when he would mentally chastise himself while listing all of their prominent differences.

"Did she always do that?" he asked suddenly, clearing his throat a bit uncomfortably. He shifted on his feet as he felt his legs starting to fall asleep due to his odd sitting position. He brought one of his knees to the ground while his opposite foot was planted firmly on the floor instead. He found this to be much more comfortable, but he couldn't shake the strange feeling that he was getting. Everything seemed tangled and cluttered, and he wondered if it was a completely helpless situation or if he should actually try to straighten things out once more. He made no more movements and simply allowed his mind to try to process the thought.

"Not a lot," Aubrey admitted as she grasped onto her fork, the olive skin of her knuckles temporarily turning white as she held the metal object very tightly in her hands and went to stab at her food until she managed to scoop it up, so she could bring it up to her mouth to savor. She felt like she needed that sense of enjoyment at the moment; it was a difficult time for her. She could tell that something was wrong, but she had no idea what. No one would tell her _why_ anything happened, and sometimes they wouldn't even tell her _what_. She knew that her mother left on a trip; however, she did not have any idea where she was going or what the reason was. She knew that there was something strange between her mother and Beck; it was painfully obvious that there was something, but, again, she didn't have the slightest idea what was the matter with them, but she hoped that someone would explain it to her and where Noah was as well, not that she really minded not having him around due to the fact that they rarely got along very well but because she was simply curious. There were so many thoughts swirling in her mind, despite people thinking that she was naive, yet she simply had no idea how to connect them or what she would connect them to. "But sometimes," she added, the dark brown flecks in her eyes seeming to become all the more visible. She chewed up her pancake and the bits of blueberries that they had put in them. The taste dissolved on her tongue, and she felt a bit of calm come over her, though it didn't do a lot.

"Like when?" Beck questioned, placing his other knee on the ground and reaching his arm over to the other side of the table. He carefully brought his plate to rest in front of him and pulled the closest chair up, so he could sit next to her as opposed to kneeling before her, and they could both be on the same level, the same page. They were both trying to figure out things that neither could quite manage to figure out, but it helped to catch the other up on information, so they could have a bit more knowledge that could possibly be helpful to decipher their situations in the end.

Aubrey shrugged, her face indifferent again albeit the look in her eyes that still remained. "You can't really tell sometimes before it happens. She says she'll be right back, but a little while later, she's gone." A tiny memory dipped into Beck's mind, and he didn't know why. No vision came to him, but he could hear a voice tell him, _"Don't worry. I'll be there tomorrow." _He could practically feel the small smile touching the lips of the owner of the feminine voice, but he couldn't figure out who it belonged to. It was young and sweet, but there was a bit of reluctance showing, and she swallowed a bit, seemingly taking a step away, and it didn't help him out as he wracked his brain for answers. He tried to have those words echo in his mind, but the voice was slipping away from him. As soon as it came to him, it was gone just as fast, but that thought made him feel like he did know who she was again. He remembered thinking that in the past, but he didn't knows when it had tortured him as it was in that moment. He took a bite out of his forkful as well, but the sweetness felt like too much. As it slipped down his throat, instead of bringing solace to him, it felt like what he imagined swallowing poison was like: bitter, painful, and haunting. He nearly choked it up, but he forced himself to gulp it down.

"Does she at least warn you before she goes?" He silently prayed that he did. The thought that she wouldn't made him feel anguish that he couldn't explain. He felt like he was stuck in the middle of something bitter, like he was supposed to be remembering something, and part of him did, but the rest of him just couldn't catch up with whatever it was as of yet. However, he was always good at hiding any pain, so he wondered if those feelings were registering on his face. If they were, Aubrey either didn't seem to notice or didn't care about asking what was wrong. He had a feeling that it was the former, but he was having trouble thinking about anything for too long at the moment. There was a feeling in his stomach that was not agreeing with him.

"Of course." The response allowed him to sigh as a bit of relief washed over him, but as he leaned back, he cringed a little and had to sit up again. The horrid feeling still lingered in his stomach, and he didn't want to put too much pressure on it. "Mommy always tells me that she's going to go somehwere," Aubrey stated and ran a hand through her dark, wavy hair, her fingers grasping onto a tangled lock and working to straighten it out, pulling at pieces and trying to make it pretty again in comparison to the bed head that she currently had. "She just doesn't always tell me where she's going or why, but she does tell me that she _is_."

They both jumped a little as they heard footsteps growing closer, and Maddy was soon standing in the doorway. She looked at her daughter and sighed, moving over to help her with her hair. She couldn't get it all fixed, so the small knot was still present, but she managed to untangle most of it, and Beck watched as her fingers worked, noticing how gentle she tried to make the process, so she wouldn't bring her daughter too much pain. Whenever she had to pull on something a little bit harder, she would warn her and then do it very slowly and carefully. He also noted that her nails were painted an odd combination of colors: green and brown. They were colors that went well together, but it still seemed odd for her to have painted the tips brown instead of just leaving it all green. He didn't know when she had done this or why, but she had changed her clothes, so perhaps she decided to clean up a little after her phone call ended. Still, it hadn't been that long, so she had probably done this awhile ago, but he had not noticed. Maybe she did it during her trip.

She wasn't exactly dressed up, but she wasn't wearing the sweats that she had had on before or the T-shirt. Instead, she had on red shorts and another T -shirt, this one white with the initials of the name of a school on it: _PPAS_. He recognized it after a moment's thought. _Professional Performing Arts School. _It was a performing arts school in the area, kind of like Hollywood Arts. Ava had told him that she and Maddy had both gone there, so he wasn't all that surprised. A good number of the students at their college had gone there too, but it was in more of the city area, and they lived in more of a suburban part of New York. Their college was just about in the middle. It wasn't in the middle of bustling traffic or skyscrapers, but it was a lot more modern than Maddy's house, which seemed pretty old to him. It was cozy, but it was nothing in comparison to the newness of most other places once you drove a little ways off. He himself had been living in an apartment building a few minutes away from the college, so their home was a bit bewildering for him every time he entered it. He always imagined New York as _all_ city. He knew that it wasn't true in the back of his mind, but that had been his impression. He would feel like a hypocrite though because many people would probably think that about California when it wasn't at all true. There were more laidback parts and more laidback people. He guessed that Maddy was the equivalent of that in New York.

When she gave up, she sat down in the chair on the opposite side of her daughter and looked at two of them, flashing them both an apologetic look. "Sorry; that was my dad. He just wanted to make sure that I got home okay, and then I started feeling like I should, um, get dressed..." she admitted. She shook her head as some blood rushed to her cheeks, tinting them a rosy pink color. When she stopped turning, her face had returned to its regular, lightly tanned color.

"It's fine," Beck replied and shifted a little bit, wincing quietly as he felt pain shoot up through him from his stomach. Maddy furrowed her eyebrows, but he made a waving motion as if to tell her not to worry about it and push the matter off to the side. "_I'm _fine," he reassured her, sitting up and placing his arm behind him to rest on the back of his chair in a more comfortable position. "Why don't we all just eat?" he asked, shaking his own head this time and attempting to shake the previous conversation that he had had with Aubrey from his head. All the same, no matter how much he tried, he couldn't shake what he had felt. The feeling was scaring him; he wasn't good a projecting emotions, but he usually understood them, and this being an exception had caught him by surprise. He felt like it was something important.

**_~.~.~.~_**

After they were finished eating, Beck decided to help Maddy do the dishes. He hadn't ate much more than what he had during his conversation with Aubrey. His appetite had faded away, and he couldn't bare to eat it, so he gave a little bit of it to Aubrey, but she couldn't eat it all either since she had her own food to finish, so he was washing away the remains and cleaning the brown syrup and scattered pieces of blue from the tiny berries from his plate. Still, Aubrey was incredibly exuberant as she bounced around in the living room to one of the plentiful CDs that Maddy seemed to own. Aubrey's braids, which she had put her hair into after her and her mother's failed attempts at fixing the small knots, flapped up and down with her body as it danced around. Beck recognized the voice blasting out over the speakers, but it had been a bit of a shock to hear at first. It was the same one that had been singing Maddy's ringtone, but it came out much louder and stronger. He almost wasn't sure how he had managed to identify it when before the sound had been so muffled, but the singer had a very different voice than most other artists, and the power was equally matched within the song.

He assumed that it was called "Going Away" judging by how many times that phrase was repeated throughout the song and how it most frequently popped up within the chorus which was very strong. It perfectly projected the fear of leaving behind people that you loved dearly, the fear of everything that you said being forgotten and more importantly _you _being forgotten completely in the midst of everything. Though the lyrics went by quickly, and he didn't catch onto all of them quickly enough, he was still easily able to grasp onto the meaning of the song, and the desperation of the narrator of the story behind the song was apparent in the singer's voice. He found himself lightly tapping his foot on the kitchen floor to the beat of the song up until it ended, slow and steadily fading out with the final repeat of the title of the song.

When the dishes were all cleaned off, the two moved into the living room, sitting down in two of the chairs in the room and watching as Aubrey excitedly jumped around. She ran over ot her mother and clambered into her lap, throwing her arms around the older woman's neck as she gave her a huge hug. Her eyelids fluttered, flashing her big, hazel eyes every other moment into her mother's view, and her lips curved into a very subtle and shy smile. Immediately, Maddy knew that something had to be coming her way, of course, considering her daughter was almost never the shy type. It was the exact kind of smile that one would give you when they were trying to ask for something that they weren't sure if the other person would willingly provide without some sort of guilt trip or something. As the scene played out before him, Beck raised his eyebrows and chuckled lightly. The pain in his stomach was finally beginning to dull, and he smiled at the two girls before him. Their interactions were a bit comical to him, if he was being completely honest.

"Mommy?" Aubrey prompted, even though she was well aware that she had her mother's attention, and her mother had already seen what was coming at her a mile away. "Can we _please _go today?" she asked rather emphatically, taking back her arms to bring them down to her sides and support herself a bit better. Her fingers displayed their selves on her mother's legs, and she tapped her bare feet against the side of the chair. "We're going to have to wait like five _years_ before we can go again! _Can we please go, Mommy? _Please!" she exaggerated, flailing her arms around with her shy smile turning into a guilt-inducing pout.

Maddy sighed and pulled her legs up onto the chair, spreading them to the side in order to give her daughter a spot to sit more comfortably between them. She placed the heel of her hand to her forehead and brushed her sidebangs out of her eyes to get a better look at the little girl sitting before her. "I _guess _we can," she relinquished, her tone exasperated, but she did smile after saying that, noticing her daughter's wide grin and seemingly getting a bit excited herself. Beck raised his eyebrows since he had no idea what either of the two could possibly be talking about. "Go get on your bathing suit and put some other clothes over it, okay?" Aubrey nodded her head wildly and dashed out of the room very quickly, her feet skittering across the floorboards with haste.

Beck leaned over, only cringing the tiniest bit as he performed the action, and questioned slowly and a bit awkwardly as well, "I'm sorry, but... what are you two talking about?" Maddy jumped a little bit, one of her hands flying to her chest, and it seemed as if she had almost forgotten that he was there. She had forgotten to think about anything or one besides Aubrey when in the presence of her daughter, and Beck understood that after knowing her for even such a short period of time. Obviously, Aubrey was Maddy's biggest priority. Aubrey was who she was most concerned about, and Aubrey was the one who she would become so wrapped up in helping. Still, the thought of the times that she would leave swirled in the back of his mind. Were those the times when it overwhelmed her to have a daughter to take care of? He assumed that there ad to be times like that, but maybe there were different reasons that neither him nor Aubrey knew of. He was relatively clueless at the moment. Well, he wasn't exactly _clueless _per say, but he felt like the only thing that would tell him anything about what was going on kept slipping away from him before he could firmly grasp onto it.

Maddy shook her head, and he felt like she could have very well been shaking off the ridiculousness of his thoughts, but there was no way that she could know what he was thinking... He was probably just making things up anyway. But she didn't tell him this. She didn't even comment on it or his strange behaviors, and he figured that maybe he truly was making things up as he went along. "She wants to go river stomping," Maddy told him, and he raised his eyebrows for a moment before lowering them again and scrunching them together. Seeing this, Maddy actually laughed a little, and Beck was wondering if she was still whipped from the other night and was only acting so carefree because she was tired, but the circles beneath her eyes were beginning to fade, and she seemed genuinely happy and alive instead of being the sleep deprived zombie-like creature that he thought that she had been the night prior. Well, for a zombie, she had looked very pretty, but he kept that to himself. He was almost sure that if he brought it up, despite the friendly aura that she was giving off, she would promptly kick him out of her house, and he would then kick himself as well because not only would it just be disrespectful and _wrong_; she also had a boyfriend, and he had Jade.

"River stomping. You know, you walk... in a river... And it's called river stomping," she told him slowly, as if that was simple and common information, raising a single eyebrow when she noticed his facial expression which seemed to reflect how slowly he was assimilating this information. Bringing the palm of her hand up to her forehead, she let out a sigh in exasperation and gripped her knee when she let her hand fall back down. She looked as if she was restraining herself from saying something, and Beck chuckled a bit. She was actually making an effort to be nice to him for once. After snapping at him for a few weeks and only being surprised when the words would come out of her mouth with such venom for the first few days, he never imagined the day that she would actually try to be kind to him. It almost seemed natural for her to get frustrated with him like it was something that she really couldn't help, but he had no idea why. He would try to make an effort to be kind to her, but she would ignore it and turn in the other direction. However, since last night, she_ had_ been returning his kindness, and it _wasn't_ because she was a zombie. Maybe she was just grateful that he had helped take care of Aubrey? That seemed like a likely possibility to him. That or one of two other ideas: he was hallucinating or she was going mildly insane. He honestly wasn't sure what was the most likely possibility anymore.

"Oh... that's what it's called?" he asked instead of voicing his opinion on her odd behaviors. He had never actually heard of anyone going out and walking in a river for fun though. He'd heard of kayaking, swimming, canoeing... but never _river stomping_. Still, he had never been the biggest nature person, so he bit back any sort of response that risked making her get angry at him and decided to just go along with it. But then a thought came to his mind that confused him, and he couldn't stop it from coming out of his mouth. He didn't think that it would or even could offend her, so why not go with it? "Wait. Are there even any rivers here?"

Without another word, Maddy got up, and Beck worried that he had said something wrong, so he sprung up and out of his seat to follow her. "I'm sorry, did I say someth-" However, he cut himself off when she merely pointed out the screen door in front of them and into the backyard. All he could see was thick forest several yards back though. There wasn't a river in sight, so he turned to her with a confused look. Sighing once more, she grabbed two flip flops from a basket beside the door and put them on her feet before opening the door and walking outside. Somewhat hesitantly, Beck decided to follow her. She had never been kind to him without Aubrey at least in the house with him, and that didn't even _always_ come with her treating him well, just sometimes, so he felt some reluctance to leave the house without the little girl coming along with them. She was almost like a dream catcher, but instead of warding off bad dreams and spirits, she chased away Maddy's urge to snap at him.

As he followed her, they entered the part of her yard where the clearing ended and the woods began very abruptly before they walked in, and from the inside, the trees didn't seem to be compacted together as tightly as they did when one looked at them from afar, or at least that was what Beck noticed. It didn't even take a minute more of walking before they reached what Maddy must have been tryihng to show him because she leaned up against a tree and brought one arm to her chest while extending the other arm as if to say, "See?" Then she brought that arm back to her and crossed them in front of her.

The river was actually more of a stream. It was probably somewhere between five and ten feet wide and only two or three feet deep, but the water was very clear in color. It was a bright and intriguing turquoise with speckles of green dancing across the surface with the light that the breaks in the treetops provided. There were also tiny black and grey forms swimming within it, and Beck leaned in closer to get a better look. The black ones appeared to be tadpoles, and the grey creatures were small fish travelling close together in schools. They were so _tiny_; he was almost scared that, if he stepped in, he would end up crushing some of them, but as he watched them move, straining his eyes a bit to follow their movements, he realized that they moved very swiftly and with haste as if they were always on the run from something.

"And you thought I was crazy," he heard Maddy joke quietly, emitting the smallest laugh, and a smile graced his features as he stood back up to face her.

"I never said that you were crazy," he told her, even though he had been questioning where she had been planning to do this river stomping. His voice caught in his throat a little at the end though, and the word "crazy" came out a bit scratchy. He had heard another voice, but this one he recognized as his own possibly from a few years back. _"You're crazy_," it said, followed by the combined laughter of a guy and a girl. He could hear Andre's chuckle and Cat's giggling, but there was another laugh mixed in, the full-on laugh of another female, but the only person that came to mind for whoever it could be was Maddy. It matched her own, but it didn't make much sense for it to be hers. She didn't even know Cat or Andre, and he had the tiniest glimpse of a memory where he made that joke, but he was fairly certain that it had been when he was in California, probably when he was in Hollywood Arts judging by the people that he must have been with at the time, and Maddy had never gone there. She has gone to _PPAS_. Of course, she hadn't gone there _all throughout_ high school, but she wouldn't have just moved across the country if she was pregnant. She had just gone to visit California though... but he couldn't remember why, and he wasn't sure why he felt like he _should_ know. It wasn't his business.

The smile was soon swept off of Maddy's face before it reappeared, this time looking almost sad, and Beck wanted to ask what was wrong, but he had to remind himself: it was her business, not his. He didn't want to seem nosy. Whatever was going on shouldn't have been something that he should be so curious about, and he just had to keep repeating that in his head. If he said it enough times, maybe it would solidify the idea, and he would no longer think anything of it. Keeping that in mind, he continued to think that in succession. _It's her business, it's her business, it's her business. I shouldn't' care, or... Should I? It might have been something that I said... _He shook his head. His thoughts were drifting. He had to keep that one central thought.

"MOMMY!" They both jumped out of their skins as the loud scream ripped through the air loud and clearly. Maddy dashed in the direction of the house, and Beck followed her, feeling his adrenaline pumping quickly. He breathed out a small sigh of relief when he saw Aubrey running to them as well, but it was short lived. It spiked once more as he wondered what was wrong with Aubrey. She flung her arms around her mother's neck, much like earlier, but this time it was much more desperate. She even looked to be shivering a little bit as she gripped Maddy tightly, aned Maddy brushed some hair out of her daughter's face as if seeing her daughter's gentle eyes was the only way to reassure her that things weren't terribly wrong. Unfortunately, even from where Beck was standing, he could see the fear that had consumed Aubrey in her eyes. Her pupils were dilated, and her chest heaved as she panted heavily. Her shoulders were tense, but as she managed to catch her breath again, they slowly relaxed.

"What's wrong, Aubrey?" Maddy asked, her eyes widened possibly even more than her daughter's as she frantically searched her for any sort of injury, but she didn't find anything besides a small cut that she knew that Aubrey had gotten a few days prior and had already cleaned out, so it wouldn't get infected and a tiny scar that she had on her elbow from when she fell off of her bike once. Neither was much to worry about, so she looked back up at Aubrey's eyes again, confusion etching its way onto her face fast. Beck could practically see the gears in her mind churning at a feverish pace and trying to figure out what was wrong. However, he tried to work things out slowly and thoughtfully, kneeling down next to her and taking one of Aubrey's hands very gently. He raised his eyebrows a bit at her, and she blushed a little, appearing a bit embarrassed.

"What happened?" he questioned calmly, not diverting his eyes from her for a second, but he could pretty much feel Maddy's eyes boring into him. He knew that it was better to stay calm, but his lack of continuous panic probably bewildered her, and he understood why. At first, he had been petrified. He was terrified that something had happened to Aubrey too, but when he saw that nothing was exactly obviously wrong, he had calmed down. He wanted to focus on helping Aubrey calm down as well as opposed to what might of happened. If it still was bothering her, she didn't make it apparent, so he could only figure that there wasn't all too much to worry about anymore. Still, he was pretty sure that Maddy would disagree with him on that...

"I didn't know where you guys went," Aubrey told them, her cheeks reddening, and her green eyes becoming smaller. "I-I guess I got kinda scared..." she admitted, starting to run a hand through her hair and tearing a lock out of her braid by accident before she could realize that her hair wasn't freely falling. She had already pulled a few strands loose because of the small habit of hers.

Beck could feel his throat become dry when she said that. He had no idea how to respond, and Maddy seemed a bit frazzled as well, but his mind flashed back to his conversation with Aubrey earlier while Maddy wasn't there, and he was honestly feeling fear cut him deep because of Aubrey's own fear being clear at that point: she was terrified of being left alone.

**_~.~.~.~_**

She hadn't had to fear later when they went into the river because she walked inbetween Maddy and Beck, holding one of each of their hands tightly. As they did that, Beck would glance down at her every once in awhile to make sure that she was okay and had calmed down, but he was focusing on the scenery around him for the most part. The stream had widened a bit and had become a bit deeper as they continued walking, but it wasn't too big or deep for them. On the bottom, there had also come to be more sand or perhaps it was dirt and mud coating it, and whenever he stepped in it, it would make an odd squelching sound, but as Maddy had suggested when he first noticed it, he did become more used to it eventually, and it didn't bug him as much.

He hadn't been sure what he was supposed to do since he had been wearing long jeans and combat boots, but Maddy had searched through Noah's stuff and found some of his swimming trunks, so she gave that to Beck, and she also found a pair of old sneakers that he could put on, so he wouldn't have to risk ruining his boots. He had also borrowed a T-shirt, but he felt a bit uncomfortable in it. It wasn't really something that he would wear. It was an odd, bright green color, and it was kind of nerdy with something about math that he didn't really care for on it, but what made it different than what he would have expected from an article of clothing that was a little dorky was that it had a little profanity on it. However, he wore it inside out, so those words wouldn't show because he didn't want Aubrey to see them, but he also wasn't fond of them either, and he would be surprised if Maddy was.

Around them, the trees had started to thicken, and Maddy told him that they lived near a wildlife preserve, so they were pretty much making their way into that. The grass turned into clumps of dirt and mulch with tiny patches of plants scattered around, and leaves with little, brown spots appearing were littered around. Although there were still a lot of leaves up high and cluttering the branches, they were beginning to fall, and some had even dropped down into the river as well, flowing with the water as it went along for the ride. Most of those were already completely or mostly brown though, and they crumpled easily when he tried to step around them and accidentally dragged them under.

He looked over at the two girls with him, and he looked at their green eyes speckled with brown flecks like the leaves around them, and then he looked specifically at Maddy. She was like the leaves, taking her time to drift down, but she also seemed to be in place in the blue water, simply dragging along, even when there was some sort of obstacle in her way. He remembered knowing a girl like that. She had loved the ocean though and was more of a salt water person, having lived in California near the beach for her entire life until she moved away without a goodbye to anyone. He remembered seeing her mom. She had been devastated, but she tried to put up a facade that she was alright. She had been good at acting like that, but it was clear that she wasn't when you drove by her house and heard the palpable sound of crying through the open windows but closed doors. The picture of the girl was fuzzy, but he remembered her mother. He had seen her around many times after that and always tried to say hi, but she would return it and then quickly turn away, ignoring him. She really was kind of like Maddy, and they looked very alike too. They shared a lot of the same features, and what he remembered of the girl resembled Maddy as well. As this thought drifted through his mind, he barely had time to really grasp onto it, and his eyes widened. The voice came back to his mind, and he felt his heart nearly stop.

"Don't worry, Aubrey. I'll always be there," she reassured her daughter, squeezing onto her hand very gently, but Beck, even though he couldn't feel the squeeze, felt like he had really just been trapped like the girl in that book that Maddy was reading. He had no idea how to get out, and he couldn't always just go along with the flow, constantly rolling in that orb-like thing that the girl had been concealed in. Even he had his breaking point, but if he broke through the sides while in the water, which suddenly looked like a lot darker of a blue to him, he was confident that he would end up drowning.

He felt a fish under his foot, but it didn't move quickly enough, and he accidentally took it down with him.

* * *

_Question: What do you think? Do you think that Beck has everything figured out? What did you like about the chapter? Also, if you noticed a few colors repeating (i.e. green and brown mostly plus some red and blue), then that's awesome! What do you think that they symbolize? Please review, and hopefully I'll be able to update more quickly this time. The next chapter is one that I'm really looking forward to writing, and I'm finally done with testing now, so I have more time to write. Thank you for reading, darlings! :3_


	9. Beck's Butterfly

**_*Chapter Edited_**

**_Taking Chances_**

**_By LunarEclipse22428_**

**_Chapter: 9_**

**Review (I don't know why this said Forum before... My mind must have been dead when I typed it, and then I didn't notice the mistake until now...) Replies:**

**Kaurz9802- No problem, LLT. :3 I feel sorry for her too, but... it's one of those evil author things we've been discussing, I guess. XD Beck stayed calm because that's sort of his thing in these types of situations, but in this chapter *spoilers*, he just might crack just... just a little bit. Also, they are getting a lot closer, and it is great. I feel bad for not making a longer exposition leading into them becoming better with each other, but I have a lot of plans, and I'm concerned for my mental health if I don't get to them sometime soon... not literally, but I don't know. It's hard to suppress the urge to just blurt out what I have planned. The flashbacks... I'm glad you like them because that's almost all that this chapter is. I had some more, but I took it out in fear that some readers really would kill me for it if I added an extra couple thousand words. I won't say anything about it clicking in his mind. His fluffy-haired mind is metaphorically clearing away a lot of... fuzz, I guess. NoNo might be in the next chapter, but I had to cut him out again because of the length, so his reactions will have to wait until next time. I'm so sorry. Ava may appear too, but I'm not completely sure. Thank you for the sweet review as always. You are... so amazing. I can't thank you enough for the support. :3**

**jadylnn- I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Aubrey is kind of like Beck in that regard, I guess. You don't really know what she's insecure of or that she's even insecure at all until you really know her well, and she has a legitimate fear of being left behind, especially by Maddy, but since she's getting closer to Beck, it also scares her if he is gone, and there are probably more people than that that she doesn't like leaving her alone like Logan, Ava, and Booli. As I said in the previous reply, I'm glad that you like the flashbacks because there's a lot more of that goodness coming, and they actually mean more than a few snippets of past dialogue. I really, really went... all out... in this chapter. I feel like my brain barfed out a bunch of ideas, but I managed to make it all sort of pretty sounding with symbolism and figurative langauge smoothing it over. XD I'm sorry for that mental picture. You're welcome for the chapter. I love bringing people joy, so... hopefully this one will have the same effect! :D**

_Fandom: VICTORiOUS_

_Genre(s): Romance and Family_

_Shipping: Beck Oliver and Madelyn "Maddy" Schneider (original character)_

_Rating: T_

_Summary: _

_"__The light at the end of the tunnel may be dark, it's up to you to make it brighter - you have to help yourself and your goals first, before God can help."_

_Madelyn Elizabeth Schneider is absolutely fine. She is going to the college of her dreams, she lives in a nice house, and she has a boyfriend who she is able to share it all with, even though they may have frequent disagreements that he usually wins. But there is something that they can never share: her daughter. She knows who the father is, but almost no one else, not even the actual father, does. He doesn't even know that young Aubrey Marie Oliver exists... until they meet, and suddenly Maddy is dumbfounded, distracted, and distraught because she has to figure out what is truly right for her daughter while also learning what she has to do that is right for herself._

_Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever (sadly), own VICTORiOUS or any of the characters. I do, however, own this storyline and any original characters I decide to throw in. I also do not own I'm Yours, Jason Mraz, Dia Frampton, Meg Frampton, Inside My Head, or Meg&Dia._

**_*Chapter Quote: "Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder..." ~Henry David Thoreau_**

***WARNING: This chapter features underaged drinking, implied sex, implied teenage pregnancy (although the entire story has kind of implied that), and, well... way too many words. I was considering splitting this into parts, but it just didn't work, although I did take out one part for the sake of my and probably your sanity, which will come in next chapter... probably. I clumped the rest of it together, and it may take you awhile to read... I understand... it's like... almost ten thousand words, and if you're anything like me, then that's probably too much for your brain to handle without knowing that you're going through like several chapters, not just one. I understand. *Spoiler (kinda)* The main purpose is to let you know exactly what happened with Beck and Maddy. In addition, it sort of breaks the regular format where it pretty much goes back and forth between points of view with Beck and Maddy, but it's sort of considered an extension of the previous chapter, so please bare with me.**

* * *

_"Come on, guys. We need to figure this out." Beck raised his eyebrows as he walked over with the sandwich and water that he had just grabbed from Festus at the Grub Truck. As he weaved through several tables to get to the one where he saw Andre and Cat sitting at, he noticed two other people, Robbie Shapiro and a girl that he didn't recognize, sitting there along with them, Robbie, Andre, and the girl with guitars resting in each of their laps. He didn't really hang out with any of them a lot besides Andre and sometimes Cat, but he did know Robbie since they did have a few classes together. However, he had no idea who the other person was, and he knew a lot of people from Hollywood Arts, no matter what grade they were in, and she didn't even seem to be too much older or younger than them._

_"The project is due in three weeks, Andre. We have time to get it done," Robbie pointed out. "Why are you in such a rush to finish it anyway?" He then continued arguing with Andre over when the project was due and what they were going to do in general. Robbie kept letting ideas fly from his mouth that Andre would quickly shoot down, saying that, whatever they were doing, had to be taken more seriously than what he suggested would be._

_All the while, the girl was just lightly strumming and picking at the strings of her guitar. She didn't voice her opinion to the two arguing boys before her but instead kept her head down and focused on the chords that she was playing. Her playing was almost as quiet as she was, and the only sound that came from her was the sound of her foot tapping on the ground at a steady pace. Cat, on the other hand, was quiet as well, but she kept looking between the girl and the two boys while running her hands through her vivid and curly hair._

_"One time, I was at my unle's house, and my brother ate a nickel that he found under the couch cushion, so I rushed to tell my uncle, but when I found him, he was soaking his feet in chicken fat," Cat told the group, and they all looked up at her with bewildered expressions before they shrugged the story off and went back to whatever they were doing. Beck heard the story as well when he sat down between Andre and the girl and merely told Cat that it was a nice story before turning his head to the side to run a hand through his hair and let his perplexed face show. When he turned back to face Cat again though, he made sure that his face appeared blank, so she wouldn't get upset with him and start screaming her signature catchphrase, "What's that supposed to mean?!"_

_He heard a soft giggle beside him and looked at the mystery girl to his side. It was the first time that he really got a good look at her. She had light brown hair that fell down a little past her shoulders in gentle curls, and her bangs were off to the side and presented two hazel eyes for him to see. Once she noticed him looking at her, her cheeks which had a light olive tone flushed and became two red roses, and her smile became very shy as she averted her eyes to look at her acoustic guitar again. Her fingertips brushed the thinnest, silver chord, and a quiet yet high pitched sound reverberated from the instrument._

_"What do you think we should do, Maddy?" Andre suddenly asked, sounding exasperated, and Beck snapped his head upwards to look at his best friend. He was looking at the other girl, and Beck smiled. Maddy. He liked the name. At the time, he thought that it was the kind of thing that stuck in your head and made you grin goofily at haphazard points throughout the day. He thought that it was kind of cute too and looked at her again, curious about what she would have to say._

_The girl turned her guitar over in her lap, so the smooth back of it was turned upward, and she leaned over a bit, propping up her elbows on the surface and placing her head to rest on her palms. She shrugged her shoulders and tilted her head to the side. "I don't know... It's kind of a broad topic, I think, so maybe someone should just pick something, so we won't argue about this for three weeks," she told them thoughtfully._

_"I've already come up with a bunch of ideas. Why can't we just use them?" Robbie questioned, and Andre and Maddy opened their mouths to tell him something when Beck interrupted them all._

_"What is this project anyway?" he asked, and Cat got up, fixed her skirt a little since it had gone up a bit too high for her liking, and turned her body to face him._

_She told him, "Andre, Robbie, and Maddy got assigned a group project in their guitar class, and Andre wants to try to get it done as soon as possible, but Robbie doesn't understand why he's in such a hurry, and Maddy doesn't really mind what they do, so they're all really confused... It's like when my brother ate the nickel! I kept asking him why he ate it, but he wouldn't tell me! And then I was confused why my uncle Jessie was soaking his feet in chicken fat... That was such a confusing day!" She gasped and ran her fingers through the curls framing her face again, her brown doe eyes enlarged as she stared ahead of her._

_Seeing that she was too distracted to elaborate, Maddy let out a quiet sigh and looked at Beck, shyly continuing for the eccentric redhead, "We have to take a well known song and put an original twist on it, but that was all that our teacher said... We have to pick a song, but then we have to figure out how we're going to change it when we perform it. Like I said, it kind of gives us a lot of options, but that makes it even harder to start." Beck nodded slowly, assimilating that information. He could definitely see the problem there, but he was a bit puzzled as to why a teacher would give such an odd assignment._

_"Well, she did say that good performers can take another person's song and kind of make it their own," Robbie added, and the other two nodded, acknowleding his statement and agreeing with mumbles of, "Yeah..." and small shrugs. Then the arguing started again between the two other guys, and Beck knew that it was going to be a long couple of weeks before this whole project thing was finally over._

**_~.~.~.~_**

_He twisted his lock back and forth a few times before opening his transparent locker and grabbing some of his books while pushing others inside. He put the ones that he did need into the blue and black backpack he had sitting by his side. When he had everything that he needed, he shut it again, zipped up his backpack, and placed it on his back, so he could find his truck and leave for the day. He opened the front entrance and looked from left to right, attempting to remember where he had parked, but he then noticed a flash of brown a bit off to the side. He couldn't help but let his signature half smile appear and start walking towards that instead._

_"Maddy!" he called out, jogging up to her and giving the tiniest wave when she turned around to look for whoever had called her name. "Hey," he greeted, grinning at the girl before him. He was probably almost a foot taller than her, so she looked up at him, craning her neck just a bit, and blushed again, seeming a little nervous around him. Her face was flustered, and her smile was sheepish, but she looked so graceful to him. Her eyelashes fluttered like the flapping wings of clusters of birds whenever she would blink, her lips, two rose petals twtiching towards the sky to try and grasp onto some of the sunlight, were practically sewn together with the tiniest gap in the middle where he saw snippets of her pearly white teeth, and her nose crinkled a bit, causing her whole face to radiate in the midday light._

_"Um, hi," she replied, her voice quiet and gentle like the wind rustling autumn leaves and flowers and was there to also help him, the bee, drift over to find the sweet nectar that she helped to tuck away. He wondered why she was trying to hide it, but he didn't feel very compelled to ask and knew that the question would sound stupid when he said it, so he kept his mouth shut and just tried to push the bramble that she hid it with out of his way instead. "What are you doing here?" she questioned, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and averting her eyes towards the sidewalk that they were standing upon. Light rain pitter pattered down from the sky, but up above it was still sunny with just a few grey clouds on the horizon; ergo, there was the unusual drizzling, although it was nothing to fret over since it was so light that it almost seemed inexistant around them unless they strained their ears to hear the tiny music in the making or held out their hands to grasp onto the wetness dropping down before it slithered down their palms and down to the small cracks in the ground below them._

_"Just trying to find my truck," Beck told her after a slight pause. He almost forgot what he was doing for a second since he had sort of changed his direction to meet up with her. He scanned his eyes over the cars in front of them again and finally noticed his on the other side of the parking lot, but he didn't make any movements towards it. He wanted to stay and talk with her. Then he looked back at Maddy and saw her gaze had followed his own to his car. Her mouth opened very briefly before shutting again as she rubbed her lips together very slowly. Her teeth lightly grazed her bottom lip, and she nodded, although her eyes remained locked. "I'm Beck, by the way," he said, trying to regain her attention. He shifted a bit, unsure as to why she was staring at his RV so intently._

_She blinked again, and it was like he knocked the wind out of her. She looked bewildered until she sucked in a breath and looked at him embarrassedly. She shook her head, deciding to not let her surprise become a dwelling subject, and said, "I-I know... Cat told me."_

_"Cat? Are you and her friends or something?" he asked her. He had talked to Cat many times before, but he had never heard about Maddy, so it wasn't the easiest thing to wrap his brain around. Besides, although it was unfortunate, not many people made friends with Cat very easily. She would act friendly to them, but they would take in her eccentric personality and treat her with poorly covered up disdain, realizing that she would rarely be able to see through it and easily forgive anyone. He had never enjoyed seeing her being treated that way, and that was one of the first reasons that he decided to talk to her. He then also figured out that, despite not being the sharpest tool in the shed, her kindness heavily outweighed how naive she could be._

_"I guess you could say that," Maddy replied, and when she saw him raise an eyebrow, she decided to elaborate. "We're next-door neighbors," she added and watched as understanding washed over his facial features. His mouth opened for a brief moment before closing again, and his eyebrows went back to their regular spots. His eyes also seemed to become softer as he nodded his head slowly, and she smiled at the sight, giggling a bit as well. He smiled back and chuckled because it seemed so easy to please her and make her burst into laughter, no matter how quiet. He had seen her, Cat, and Andre joking with each other a lot and Robbie trying to get in on it and make Cat laugh many times for the past few days since he had first met her, and he would always just sit there and watch her eyes light up and her lips rub together very lightly before opening up and letting out the smooth yet uncontrolably joyful sound. He felt like he was addicted to just hearing her laugh; it made him so happy to see her like that for some reason. He wouldn't even try to get in on the conversation like Robbie. He would sit there and smile whenever he saw her smile, and he didn't want to do anything that would risk ruining the moment. It was a perfect moment._

_"Oh," he said when his laughter had finally managed to cease. "She hasn't mentioned you before." He wasn't sure why and made a mental note to ask the quixotic rehead sometime soon. Considering how much she spoke and how comfortable she was talking about just about anything, he was puzzled as to why she wouldn't mention Maddy ever and then make it clear that they were at least a little close as soon as she came to the school. He had already figured out that she was new, but Cat had no problem talking about her brother and uncles when he had never even met any of them before, and they weren't exactly considered normal even by her._

_"Yeah, well, we don't talk a lot. We usually just talked before when we saw each other in like our backyards and stuff, and she usually does most of the talking," Maddy informed him, and Beck let a grin spread over his face. That was definitely something that Cat would do. "I usually don't say much. She just started really talking to me a lot when I told her that I was coming to Hollywood Arts, but she had talked about you before that." He blushed a little, so she hastily corrected herself, "And Andre and Robbie." Then she glanced back at his RV. "But she didn't mention you driving an RV. Sorry if that was a little weird before. I was just kinda surprised... Most guys I know don't drive RVs..."_

_"Wanna come see it?" he asked, and she opened her mouth to turn down the offer, but he saw it coming and shot her a look that he tried to use to make it clear that it was fine, and she wouldn't be intruding or anything. He could tell that she was uncomfortable. He had tried talking to her a few times before then, and she had been very hesitant and reluctant to say or do much, so their conversations had really only consisted of a few words being spoken by both of them, but she would say much less than he would. He was finally going to take initiative though and show her that it was fine for her to talk to him along with the other guys and Cat. "Come on," he said as he grabbed her hand and led her towards the large truck a little ways off._

_As they walked over to it, they didn't speak much, but Maddy didn't take her hand out of his palm, and he held her hand very gently. His thumb rubbed circles on the skin on the back of her hand, and she seemed to become less tense at the feeling, letting out a tiny breath that she had been holding and starting to walk beside him instead of behind him. He looked down at her, and she looked back up at him shyly and took a tiny step closer. He was so focused on her, he was bewildered when he walked right into the door of his RV, and she looked at him with concern, asking if he was okay. He held onto his forehead for a second but nodded and took a step back, so he could open it up this time for them to walk in._

_"Are you sure you're alri- wow," Maddy began to ask before cutting herself off as she saw everything inside his RV, including the bed, fish tank, and disheveled clothes littered on the floor. He picked them up and stuck them in his dresser before plopping down onto his bed nonchalantly and watching her gaze around the room. "I expected a bed or something, but... this is like... a second home or something," she commented._

_"Maybe because it is," he told her, chuckling. She looked over, and he sat up as he explained to her, "I've been living in here for a few months now. It's a little more comfortable than my parent's house. I get to have my own rules, and they aren't breathing down my neck all the time." She nodded slowly but still seemed surprised, so he laughed a bit more, got up, and tugged on her hand again, so she would sit down on his bed with him. He laid back, but she stayed upright, quilling her body whenever he tried to get her to relax and lay down too. "Do you have parents like that?" he asked when he accepted defeat that he wasn't going to get her to lay beside him._

_She shrugged. "My mom can be like that sometimes, I guess. Well, she used to be in my business a lot... She'd get really nitpicky about little things like making sure that everything's clean, asking how I scored on every test and quiz, and I mean every single one, and seeing if there were any fundraisers or clubs for me to do... I don't know. I guess she was really involved," she told him, running a hand through her hair, "but I can kinda understand why. I wasn't the biggest social butterfly, and that bugged her for awhile. She was just making an effort... a little too big of one if you asked me, but an effort still."_

_Beck propped himself up on one of his elbows as he used his other arm to casually reach over to where his PearPod was set up in his digital clock, charging, and took it out, so he could scroll through the songs that he had on it as he prompted, "Why isn't she like that anymore?"_

_"She's been sort of... distant lately with a lot of people. Usually, it's just with other people, but sometimes..." Maddy informed him, pausing for a few moments every once in awhile as if she was contemplating how to answer the question. The answer caught him off guard, and he was afraid that it was some kind of touchy subject, so he decided to change the topic quickly. He stuck his PearPod back into the digital clock, so it could charge some more and play some music. Instead of choosing a song, he finally just hit shuffle, and I'm Yours by Jason Mraz began playing._

_Bouncing his head lightly to the music, he wracked his brain for something else to say and eventually blurted out, "What about your dad?" He could really only hope that her dad was more involved now. From the tone of Maddy's voice, he felt like he didn't really want to know just how uninvolved she was implying that her mother was becoming. It didn't sound like it was all that great for her._

_"He's in New York," she said quietly, averting her eyes to where she was twiddling her thumbs in her lap. Beck almost bit his tongue as regret for asking such a question surged through him._

_"O-on a business trip?" he guessed, having to choke it out, and the hope and desperation wasn't as subtle as it usually came out for him, but Maddy still didn't seem to notice it all that much, for she didn't make a comment and just shook her head, saying that he lived there with her brother. Letting out a small sound that sounded like a mix of a huff in defeat and a sigh out of sympathy, he apologized, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked. It's none of my business."_

_She merely made a waving gesticulation as if to tell him to not even worry about it. Instead of replying, she just said, "It's actually kind of funny. This is the one thing that reminds her of him that she can still isten to. Anything else is out of the question, but this song... She still really loves it." When he gave her an odd look, she explained, "This song, I'm Yours. It's kind of funny almost that you chose it... It was their song at their wedding, and even though my mom tries to avoid things that remind her of my dad, she still listens to this song all the time. Practically everyday, actually." She looked at him. "Is this your favorite song?" she asked him._

_"Um, I guess you could say that..." Beck replied a bit awkwardly. "But I didn't pick it. I put it on shuffle, and this just started playing," he clarified, motioning to where his PearPod was charging again. Seeing her nod in understanding, he continued with a question of his own. "What about you?"_

_She brought her legs up and sat with them wrapped tightly against her chest as she finally started leaning back towards the wall and let her head fall back a little bit, tilting her neck and letting her eyes shut to a close. Her fingertips lightly tapped against the rough denim of the jeans she was wearing to the beat of the song, and her entire body very subtlely moved along with the music whether it be the tapping of her fingers, the lolling of her head, or even the rubbing of her lips as she kept back quiet hums and the crinkling of her nose whenever some particularly great lyrics came out and slithered into her welcoming ears. "What do you mean?" she responded._

_"Is this your favorite song?" he questioned, and she opened her eyes again, fluttering her eyelashes a bit like she was blinking an almost sleeping state away, and turned her body to face his a bit more. She loosened her grip on her legs a bit, letting them sprawl in front of her, and her hands fell down into her lap again, allowing her to this time play with some of the rings decorating them. One of them had an infinity symbol wrapping around her finger, and another connected from two fingers and was pretty much a silver leaf that twisted in a sinuous sort of way. There was also one with a detailed yellow butterfly figure propped up on top of a dark band that was resting gently on her pointer finger. He hadn't really noticed how much she liked jewelry until then. There was also an owl pendant on a long chain around her neck, and she had many beaded bracelets around one of her wrists while the other was just kind of left bare._

_The rest of her apparel wasn't very expressive though. Her hair was freely falling in the same curls that they had been styled in since she started going to Hollywood Arts, and her makeup didn't cake up her face. It wasn't too thick and mainly consisted of a little mascara, and he thought that there was the tiniest bit of lipstick rubbed in, but he wasn't sure. There wasn't much. It wasn't like other girls' when they would wear buckets of perfume that you could smell from a mile away or tons of concealer that practically formed a mask above their actual face and created a new person who they thought that the real them could hide behind. With a small green T-shirt and scuffed, grey converse, it didn't seem like there was much that she was trying to hide. He guessed that it was really that smile of hers that helped her hide what she didn't want others to see. He had already gotten a small glimpse of what he thought was brewing behind it, afterall._

_"I don't know," she admitted and tilted her head to the side a little as she carefully slipped the ring with the yellow butterfly off of her finger. She moved it around in her palm a little before bringing it closer to her face as if to observe the design. "It might be one of my favorite songs, but I don't know if I would say that it's my all-time favorite. You know?" Then she held out the ring to him, and he took it after a second, looking at the presiceness of the details on the wings specifically. Each individual black line lining them was very carefully marked, and it wouldn't have surprised him all that much if the small bug started flapping its wings and flying around his truck. It didn't, but he could imagine it doing so without a problem. "Jason Mraz isn't my favorite musician, but he's probably one of them. He's definitely really talented."_

_"He is," Beck agreed and tried to give her back the ring, but she wouldn't take it. She clasped her hands into scraggly fists, although they weren't clenched tightly, and made a motion for him to keep looking at it. Although a bit hesitant, he did continue and nonchalantly added, "That's why he's probably my favorite musician, but I'm not that into music. I'm more into acting." He half expected her to tell him that Cat had told her that too, but she remained silent and waited patiently for him to continue. "Who's your favorite musician?"_

_"Um..." She glanced up at the ceiling and seemed to be taking her time thinking of an answer. "Probably... Dia Frampton," she answered finally after a minute or so._

_"Who?" Beck questioned, furrowing his eyebrows. He had never heard of that singer, so he was kind of confused. He knew that he hadn't heard a lot of musicians, but he usually at least recognized the name maybe even a little bit even if he hadn't actually heard any of the artist's work. Actually, since he didn't listen to a lot of more popular artists besides Jason Mraz, he usually hadn't heard any of their songs but rather their names, and maybe he had a general idea of what kind of music they played, but that was really about it._

_"Dia Frampton," Maddy repeated and sat up again. "She has a band called Meg&Dia with her sister, Meg. They aren't really that well-known though. They do have a couple of albums out, but most people haven't heard of them," she explained. She then played with her fingers again, and there a small ring of paler skin around her finger that used to have the yellow butterfly on it. He wondered if that was underneath all of the fingers with rings, but the paleness was fading into her regular skin tone very slowly and soon matched the rest of her hand again._

_"I don't think I've ever heard of her," Beck told her, and she responded by saying that it didn't really surprise her all too much. When the song ended, he took his PearPod again and started looking through all of his songs, but he didn't find anything by Meg&Dia or just Dia Frampton as a solo artist, so he soon gave up and put it back. After that, the two sat in comfortable silence for a little while until it was broken by the sound of music flooding into the room once more. Maddy took her phone out of her pocket and placed it onto her ear, hitting a button hastily and suddenly hearing quick and loud talking on the other line. When Maddy tried to get a word in, it was extremely difficult, but eventually the other person slowed down their speech, and she let out a small sigh. It was only about a minute then until Maddy hung up and looked back up at him._

_"I have to go. That was my mom," she said, and he nodded, getting up and off of his bed. He glanced at the watch on his wrist, and he hadn't even realized just how late it was. They must have been talking for a lot longer than he thought, so he quickly led her outside and then into the front part of his RV, so he could drive her home. She told him that she didn't drive, so she was going to walk, but he argued saying that it probably wasn't the best idea to be walking around at that point when the sky was beginning to darken, and most people would be inside of their homes, too distracted to help her if anything bad was going to happen, which he was a bit paranoid that something would, so he offered or really kind of demanded that he drive her home. He wasn't really going to take no for an answer once more, and she saw it too, so she said yes._

_While they were driving home, Maddy asked if she could turn on the radio, and Beck told her that she could, so she started searching through a bunch of different stations. At the end, she gave up and let a random one continue playing, and after the typical pop song stopped, the next song was a very familiar one that seemed to be on a constant replay in their minds: I'm Yours. The hilariousness of the situation caused them both to start laughing hyserically, and they were singing along to the lyrics through their laughter whenever they could catch their breath. Even when Beck rolled up the windows, they continued singing and laughing loudly, and it made them only become even more amused when they were honked at by other exasperated drivers._

_The entire ride was much greater than he ever could have expected, and he let out a small sigh when Maddy told him to slow down a little because they were approaching her house. He swerved onto her street, and they gradually parked by her front lawn. There was a single light on within the first and only floor off to the right side of the door with long curtains obscuring the view of whatever was inside, but Beck guessed that it was the kitchen when Maddy commented saying that her mom was probably making dinner for the two of them to split, if she wasn't already eating it, maybe even finishing it up at that point._

_"I'm sorry. I didn't even realize how much time had gone by. I didn't mean to hold you up," Beck apologized as he helped her hop out of the car. Her converse hit the crumbled pavement, and she looked up at him with that same shy smile, but it seemed to be a little more outgoing than it had been a few days prior, and he took that as a good sign._

_"It's fine," she replied, shaking her head. "I had fun. I didn't know that you could have that much fun in a school parking lot," she tried to joke, and he chuckled when something popped into his mind, and a grin spread across his facial features. He had an idea, and he was hoping that she would like it as much as he suddenly did._

_"Then I guess you've never been to a Hollywood Arts Kick Back," he stated, and she scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion as she looked at him. He mentally cheered just the tiniest bit because her confusion also meant something good for him: no one had explained it to her, and, thus, no one must have asked her to go with them, so he had a smaller chance of being turned down. "Every semester," he explained to her, "the school lets students have a sort of party, I guess, in the parking lot at school. We call it the Kick Back." She had arrived around the middle of the school year, so there was one steadily approaching since it was only about two weeks away._

_"Oh." She looked at him with a blank expression, merely blinking. He held back a small laugh. She seemed so oblivious, but he really did want her to get it because it was getting to be a bit awkward asking her. Typically, when he tried to ask girls to things like this, they would catch on with excitement and often disbelief. Sometimes, before he could even get the question out, they would be jumping up and down and hugging him so hard that it was difficult to breathe . Then they would shriek yes a million times, and he would be hard at hearing for the next couple days..._

_"So..." he trailed off a little awkwardly. He was in uncharted waters here, and he wasn't completely sure how to go about it. Should he go all out and dive in or try to stay in the shallower waters where things were safer, and the waves were a lot calmer? He didn't really know. For now, he was on the shore just letting the waves hit his legs. He tried to wade in further, but it was a slow process, and he lightly chewed on his lower lip as the process became almost exasperatingly slow._

_"So?" she questioned. If she understood what he was getting at yet, she did not make that conspicuous, so he contiuned setting one foot in front of the other and pushing as hard as he could, so he could make it through the waters which were pushing back just as fiercely in attempts to keep him where he was standing._

_"Would you like to... you know..." He was about to continue, closing his eyes very briefly and mentally deciding to just go at it full force already, when she cut him off, spluttering a bit as it finally clicked within her mind. Part of him was relieved that he wouldn't have to say it. He felt very uncomfortable all of a sudden, and he had no idea why. It was like it wasn't just the two of them swimming around. He felt like there was a shark waiting just a few feet away from them in the water, but he couldn't really be sure. If it was there, it made no sudden movements, and he had heard that sharks needed to move to survive, and he realized that this shark was not a shark at all. They weren't at the beach. There was no sand crumbling between his toes. It was damp blades of grass being crushed underneath his shoes, and there was a butterfly ring in his palm, not the gentle spray of salty ocean water._

_"G-go?" she asked, her cheeks flushing more than a few shades deeper. It looked almost like she had been sunburned, but the sun had already set, and darkness was very gradually creeping over their heads and into the night sky with stars starting to become visible and speckle the dull blue that was fading into a light greyish color._

_"Yeah..." He was back to being hesitant to step around at all. He still felt like there was some shark slinking around them, and now it was moving again, encompassing them in a slow circle and getting ready to snap its mouth and bite onto his leg or something if he made even the slightest wrong movement. Maddy, however, didn't seem to have the same problem as him and hunched over the tiniest bit, so her hair fell down in front of her eyes. Beck's hand twitched to brush it out of the way, but he felt frozen to the spot._

_"With you?" she clarified, and he nodded, part of him surprised that nothing happened when he moved his head and the other part of him chastising himself for being so silly and letting his imagination run wild like that. His tensed muscles relaxed, and his panicked gaze shifted onto her again. She had taken the hair out of her face herself, and her eyes were staring up into his. She swayed a little on her feet, but her eyes never averted away from his, and they seemed to glitter almost in the dim light surrounding them. They were an olive color with very subtle splashed of brown like the stars, which really were plapably shining abovehead at that point. They were so tiny, and it was so compelling to just stay there and count each and every one of them, but that also seemed like an impossible task that many had probably attempted before him._

_"What do you say?" he prompted when he was just met with silence. He shifted his gaze the slightest, and hers darted down to their hands suddenly, not looking up. She opened her mouth to say something before lifting her chin, and as her words floated into the air, he couldn't hear them. His mind was fogged up, or maybe he had just gotten too much salt water stuffed into his ears, so they were clogged up and wouldn't let any sound in. Either way, he couldn't concentrate on whatever she started telling him, and it looked like they were both starting to lean in._

_Snap. The shark went in for the kill. The door to Maddy's house swung open, and there stood a woman who looked a lot like Maddy with her arms crossed and an expression full of disdain. Her clothing consisted of a long, dark skirt and a grey sweater and inexistant shoes. It was like she hadn't stepped outside in days or maybe even weeks. What he could see of her feet looked like they had been gathering dust, and when she stepped onto the dirty porch, there was some brown that rubbed off against her skin. The aura emanating from her, however, was much darker than any clothing or any dust gathering feet that he had ever seen._

_Needless to say, the two of them jumped apart in even less than a matter of seconds, and Maddy turned to face this woman, presumably her mother, and began to feverishly apologize, bowing her head down and not risking taking a glance at Beck. He just stared. He had knocked down so many walls, but with one disapproving glare from her mother, she had called a repair company, and they fixed everything ridiculously fast like there was some sort of high amount of cash on the line if they managed to fix it faster than most could even possibly hope for. Still, when she started walking towards her mom, like always when something was done so hastily, it turned out that the job had been done carelessly, and even if it was small, there was still a hole drilled into the barrier encompassing her, and she turned around. She walked backwards and waved at him a nice, big wave that made her face and his both light up in elation._

_"Bye, Beck!" she called out and stumbled just a little bit on a small hole in her lawn, but she just laughed along with him when he started a chuckle that turned into an all-out laugh. He almost forgot about his unanswered question._

_"Wait!" he exclaimed, taking a step forward towards her. The shark raised her eyebrows and clenched her jaw, lightly grinding her pointy teeth against one another. She was about to snap again, but she didn't have the chance just yet. She had to wait for the right moment, when she was close enough. "You didn't answer my question! A-and you forgot your ring!" he said, the words leaving his mouth so quickly that he could barely tell what on earth they were, but Maddy didn't seem to have the same problem. She followed the string of messily thrown together words and almost seemed the tiniest bit amused by them. _

_"You can keep it! And, um... You really don't have a date? I guess_ I'm yours_ then!" she joked before disappearing into her wooden, one-story house with the shark woman throwing him one last unsure look before following her inside._

_He pretty much just avoided a shark attack yet got a date to an upcoming dance, laughed with a really pretty girl, and spent the majority of his day with a girl who was not just the looks that he was already well aware of. Somehow, as he went back over to the shore, he was extremely content and felt completely willing to take the chance and dive right back in. He could even jump right back and be burried six feet under when a tsunami lashed out on him and yet still feel that undying content in the very pit of his stomach. It didn't go away all night. _

**_~.~.~.~_**

_When he walked into the Asphalt Cafe again the next day, the sound of a few guitars strumming in sync filled the air, and he immediately recognized what song they were playing. It was his favorite one with a twist, and he recognized that song mixed in as well because as soon as he had come home later the previous night, he had gone online and downloaded three Meg&Dia albums. He didn't even regret it. The one that he noticed they switched onto very briefly was a song from their album Here, Here & Here, the one that he had found to be his personal favorite when he listened to them all, and it was one of his favorite songs too, Inside My Head. The sound made him grin and take out the one earbud that he had in to listen to the live performance that he was getting to see. He dropped his tray of food next to Cat along with his books and watched as the three before him worked on their project. They still had awhile to go before it was due, but they were already sounding pretty good. Beck was a bit confused though. The songs had very... contradicting meanings. On one hand, there was a song about a guy wanting to give his all to get the girl that he liked sung by Andre. On the other, there were a few lines of a song about a girl with bad thoughts about her boyfriend using her in wrong ways and compelling her to correct his mistakes sung by Maddy. _

_However, when they finished the song, he seemed to be the only one a little bit wary, although that wariness pretty mcuh disolved when he simply shrugged it off, figuring that it was merely what they came up with to get a better grade and nothing to really worry about, and the relief in Andre was palpable in his facial expression. Beck was glad that he was finally able to relax a little bit, even though there was still something stirring inside of himself that he continued to try to force out of his mind. The combination of the two songs was not did not cease making him feel weird, like something bad was going to happen, but he tried to focus on Andre's relief because seeing his friend so relieved made him feel better too. With his grandma always going bezurk over everything, he kind of understood why Andre would be in such a rush to get a bunch of things done, so he could spend even a few more minutes of the day checking up on her. Although Mrs. Harris sometimes terrified Beck with her loud outbursts, he saw what Andre did for the woman, and it was pretty remarkable. He never would have been able to do that. He couldn't even keep his own sister safe, so he was pretty sure that he would never be able to manage what Andre did._

_He still felt a twinge of regret for lying to Maddy the previous day. He hadn't even meant to. It was so natural for him to lie to others and even himself about a whole long list of things ever since the incident, especially when it came to the incident itself. He wasn't really comfortable talking about it, and the lie wasn't even entirely false. It just wasn't entirely true either. It was like the fine line inbetween. It wasn't white, and it wasn't black; it was grey, and he wasn't sure how he felt about erasing the dark marks or making them darker, but he did know that he would have to talk to Maddy about it later. He just wasn't sure how he was going to go about it, and as the day went on, he had some good ideas like asking for a certain band to play when Andre had a small panic attack over the band that they booked for the Kick Back cancelling to relieve his friend of some stress and set up a nice surprise that he hoped would sort of smooth over what he had done, but he also had to draw a blank when it came to telling Maddy the truth or lying even more to cover it up even further. He had a feeling that he would have to tell her what really happened, but he was also pretty sure that it wouldn't hurt him if he held that off until the Kick Back, so he could tell her when she was really excited and wouldn't get mad or anything at him. It seemed like a great idea at the time, so, of course, he went along with it._

_**~.~.~.~**_

_The expression on her face was overjoyed to say the least. When she saw her idol on stage singing her heart out with her favorite band, singing one of her favorite songs, Beck was almost scared that she was going to faint in her clearly transfixed state. Her fingers, still cloaked by rings, wrapped around his arm and squeezed him as she let out a squeak of joy and fumbled to string together words that actually made any sense. The look in her eyes was enough to get the message across though. He knew that he had made the right decision when he approached Andre with the idea of booking this specific band for the gig. Seeing her so happy made him feel even worse to bring it up and smash that happiness with a sledge hammer of bad news, so he decided to hold off just a little bit longer._

_An hour or two went by, and a school dance in the parking lot became a little more than some innocent, little party. He weaved his way through people to find Maddy because he had gone to the bathroom for a couple of minutes and finally found her near the punch bowl, giggling at something that some guy standing beside her had said. Her laugh wasn't as natural as it had been before though. It came out odd, and the fact that she was hanging out with some sort of jock was odd, and the entire situation was just odd. He slowly pulled her away from the guy, telling her that he had to tell her something, but she just stuck a cup of punch in front of his face, offering it to him and giggling some more. He pushed it away and shook his head, reminding her that he had something important to say. _

_While he tugged her towards a table, they passed by Robbie and Cat who were slow dancing near the Grub Truck and the hot cheese fountain spewing out liquidy cheddar cheese. They were probably closer than they should have been, but there didn't seem to be any chaperons around to tell them that, so they just continued to hold each other tightly as they moved to the music that had gradually started to dwindle down to a very slow beat. Beck wasn't completely sure how they had gotten together, but he had a good idea once he took a whiff of the air. There was definitely some alcohol going around, and he was suddenly terrified that Maddy had accidentally drank some too._

_"Maddy, please listen to me," he begged as they sat down, and he grasped her hands very gently, wanting her to truly assimilate what he was saying. "This is important, I swear. I probably should have told you before, but I-"_

_"Just tell me," she cut him off, playing mindlessly with a couple strands of her hair. She twirled them around her finger, and when she looked up at him, her eyes were misted over with obvious intoxication. "You can tell me anything, Beck," she reassured, and it was almost genuine, but she started that horrbile giggling again a second later, and he could only think again: something's wrong. She's wrong. She's all wrong. She isn't Maddy._

_"I sort of lied to you before when we were in my RV," he started, and there was little to no reaction from her. "You know, the first time," he added since they had been hanging out in his RV almost every day for the past two weeks. There was still silence from her, and he thought that he almost would have preferred if she would have had something to say, something to just spit at him. He wouldn't mind the venom. He deserved it. He hated this feeling as she just obliviously sat there, pretending to listen to him. "I said that I live in my RV because of my parents- which I guess is partly true. In fact, they're a big part of it, but... they aren't directly the _main part_," he stressed to her, sighing when he was once more hit with nothing but the sound of music blasting over the speakers and people chattering and gibbering all around him, a good amount slurring and stumbling over their speech. _

_"You see, my sister- she-" he tried to say, struggling to get the words out of his mouth. He croaked a little and felt his eyes start to itch, something that almost felt unnatural for him. He wasn't the type of person to start crying or anything, especially in public. He hadn't even cried when the incident actually occured, so he didn't know why he was starting to at that point. He kept his eyes closed for a minute until they didn't feel so wet anymore and opened them, looking at her and starting to continue. "She wasn't always the happiest person around, and she was, well, sort of depressed, but a few months ago, she..." He felt a lump form in his throat, and the tears sprung back up. He let out a shaky breath, and only one tear managed to make its way down his cheek by the time that he wiped them all away with his sleeves._

_Maddy placed one of her hands on the one that was rubbing at his eyes, and she smiled very lightly. It brought him solace, and he almost didn't notice the fact that her eyes were still so cloudy. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," she told him gently, intertwining her fingers with his and bringing both of their hands down to the surface of the small table that they were sitting at. She seemed so sincere, and he didn't know what to do about it. Maybe she was just a little bit tipsy and was actually aware of her surroundings still? It didn't seem all too likely, but it was better than admitting the truth to himself._

_Suddenly, a fist launched down to their table with that familiar plastic cup slamming down and spilling some of the liquid within all over their table. It slashed and slid off of the sides, and Beck felt like their hands, which were then splattered by the alcohol, were contaminated just like his breath, Maddy's eyes, and everyone around them. He seemed to be one of the only people who was still sober, and it was more than just uncomfortable for him. Although he would never admit it, he was terrified and was afraid to speak to these people- were they even people? They had the bodies of humans, but their faces were not what they used to be. Their lips curled, and it was clear that their minds had been tossed away a long time ago._

_"Hey, Beck," the guy from the punch bowl greeted, tossing a smug smirk Maddy's way very briefly before looking back at Beck. He held out the cup that was only half full because of all of the spilling out to him. "Want a sip?" he prompted, shaking it a little bit in a taunting manor. He was more careful though, so it all stayed inside. It sloshed, and the sound rang in Beck's ears, practically warning him to have some restraint, but it was difficult when he was surrounded by so many people who had already indulged their selves in it. He wasn't one to fall because of peer pressure, but even Maddy couldn't resist, and he just kind of wanted to waste himself away at that point. He wanted to wipe his brain away and replace it with the fuzziness of not knowing what was going on. He didn't want to think about his sister, the shark of a woman who he was sure would snap his neck if she was there, or really anything. He just wanted to grab that drink and choke it all down._

_"No," he said instead, pushing the cup away from him and blinking when one of the various lights flashing around got in his eyes. He pushed his hand in front of them to obscure the effulgence. "No, I don't. Go away, Nick!" He tried to push the guy away, but he just stumbled backwards a few steps before shaking it off and stepping forward again. His cup was just about empty, but some other guy brought over several more, this time not even in the plastic cups everyone was using. This was legitimate alcohol in the big bottles instead of mixed in with some fruit punch. They weren't even trying to hide it, and he wondered what it was like to be so truly carefree. A lot of people would have thought that he was carefree, but underneath him, there was a lot of sufferage. What was it like for someone to just waste their life away and not even care? Was it as stupid as it sounded, or was there an actual reason that people did it every day?_

_"Just take it, dude!" they urged him, and it was extremely difficult to suppress giving into that urge. He was never an impulsive guy, but he wanted to be just once._

_"_Fine_!" he shouted at them and took one of the long, green bottles. He popped off the cap and just chugged it all down. He wasn't sure how long it took him to drink that first bottle, but he could vaguely remember grabbing another, and by that time, his senses were too far gone for him to remember if there was another bottle lost in his system too. He couldn't remember anything after that. He had truly been wasted._

_And the next day, he woke up in the parking lot inside his RV. He hadn't gone home. Instead, he was on that little bed with the usually white sheets thrown off and his clothes furled and hurled across the room in what was supposed to be some kind of pile, but these were the ones that he wore the night prior, and he didn't have anything covering his body. He didn't even have on any boxers. He had an idea what happened, but he didn't know for sure because there was no one beside him, but the door was unlocked, and there was a mix of what he thought was blood and tears on those dissheveled, stained, usually white sheets._

_Later that week, she was nowhere to be seen either. She came in a few times, but there were usually long days separating them, and she would go home early after some sort of abrupt outburst. When the time came for that guitar assignment to be due, she promised Andre and Robbie that she would be there, but that was the last time that they saw her, and after that, people were confused for awhile, but she seemed to just dissolve into nothingness after around a month or two. No one mentioned uncompleted guitar assignments, no one mentioned drunken parties, and no one dared to mention a Maddy. Beck didn't mention what had circled his mind for long, sleepless nights either. Misplaced butterfly rings were nothing to anyone anyway. No one wanted to hear it, and no one wanted to remember. They all thought that they had gotten their wish, and soon there were people like Jade West and Tori Vega that people could talk endlessly about instead. _

_Even the shark woman, who was at first drowning in her own tears and not moving from her household where no one dared to step on that porch out front again in fear of an impulsive attack, slowly became quiet with her sobs and would just pass you by on the sidewalk or in the supermarket, say hello, and then keep on swimming._

She thought that she was taking the right approach, searching through the seas for her lost daughter, but she was all wrong. Searching through the salty ocean was her biggest mistake. It turned out that the only ways to find that forgotten friend and family member and potentially something more, in Beck's case, was in at least one of several ways, including: fate taking your hand and tugging it to where it wanted you to be until you were sure that your hand would just fall off or going along with the connected fresh water rivers and streams behind backyards and through wilderness preserves. There was also one more that he found almost made him laugh hysterically, but he was a little to sick to his stomach to let out even a small chuckle. You could just sit there on the side of the stream, watching the daughter of a shark and the shark's daughter's little angel splashing around, and find none other than a yelllow butterfly resting on your shoulder once you stopped trying to chase it. He was pretty sure that this was too weird to classify as just one way, and he wasn't completely sure how _he _felt about it, but his somach was still more than just a tiny bit nauseous thinking about it.

* * *

_Question: I don't really have a question... I'm just hoping you all won't kill me for how long that was... If you liked it, I'd love to hear your thoughts, and if you didn't... please don't plan to murder me. I have a lot of things that I would like to do... like... take a cooking class (because I seriously need to) or... plant a vegetable garden... Ponies kinda freak me out though, so I guess I can't copy that from Robbie and Beck's bucketlists... Anyway... Bye!_


	10. New AN: Moving Forward News

**A/N**

I've made a lot of promises with this story. I started planning it from the beginning and thus believed sincerely that it would last, but I have made a lot of mistakes with Taking Chances as well. I'm sure all fellow writers have had the experience in which they looked back at something that they wrote and thought, "This seriously stinks." While I've received a ton of encouragement throughout this story, I still feel like it isn't good enough. My writing style is too lengthy and gets a bit boring- I've been aware of this for a long, long time. My plot ideas were getting all mixed up in my mind. Honestly, I feel like I have killed Maddy's character with how easily she is starting to be nice to Beck again. Even though I have some ideas for explanations for this, they just don't seem realistic enough. Also, I have an idea that I was going to introduce in the next chapter, but I'm not sure if it's okay anymore. In case I do decide to move forward with it, I do not wish to spoil anything about it, but it does not seem entirely correct, I guess.

Honestly, I'm not even entirely sure where I'm going with this as I'm writing it, and that bothers me. I'm not sure if I'm saying that I'm not going to continue with Taking Chances. It kills me even thinking about that because I've loved writing this story so much. However, I think that I have grown up a little recently during this unannounced hiatus, and my plans for this story do not fit in with how I have sort of changed.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this may or may not be a continued story. If I get an idea that I like, I'll move forward. If any readers want me to, I'll make a big effort to move forward with it, although that may include editing previous chapters, which may take awhile. Please leave a review with your reaction because I want to hear what you have to say about this news. Perhaps something you say will even inspire me. I'm willing to take that chance (no pun intended), and I hope that you're willing to help. The readers who have reviewed have been very sweet, and I am confident in how their opinions have moved me previously.

-misskikimarie (previously LunarEclipse22428)


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